The Beautiful Game: July 2010

When I look back at some of the greatest football teams ever made, I think of two teams - two fantastic teams that played and won in an incredible way, pleasing and thrilling every fan, every 'neutral', and intriguing even those who hated them. These were the teams that have educated me most about football. They also taught me that football is more than a game, it is a philosophy and that that is how it must be. These two teams completely shaped the way I look at football and sculpted my beliefs on how a football club should be in its spirit. They showed me why football is 'the beautiful game'.

One of those two teams, of course is my beloved Arsenal's Invincibles of 2003-2004. But this article is not about them.

On the eve of Spain's World Cup final against Netherlands, I wish to talk about the other team, and pay tribute to the man who constructed the team and orchestrated the incredibly sublime football that the team played. The team was the Real Madrid team of 1999-2003, and that man is Vicente Del Bosque, who will tonight try to win the biggest trophy that any nation can win in sport.

In his tenure as the Real Madrid manager from 1999 to 2003, the club won two la Liga titles and two Champions League titles, and many other titles such as the Intercontinental cup and Supercup.

Of course, more important than this was the way the team played football. It was football that was unpretentious and majestic in equal measure. Geniuses like Zidane and Figo were a part of the team, but you would rarely see those extravagant pieces of skill that most observers find praiseworthy. The moments of genius were of course there, but they were more subtle. One would see a pass from Zidane that seemed to glide perfectly to its destination, not requiring the receiver to do anything but just make contact with the ball to score. One would see Figo carry out a dummy that left space wide open for Raul. One would see Zidane glide away with the ball, with 4-5 defenders hovering around him trying to get through what seemed like an impermeable bubble around him. One would see the team dizzying opponents with short passes on the ground. The brilliance of Real Madrid at that time was that their game seemed simple and effortless - and this was down to Del Bosque.

There were unbelievably talented players like Raul, Morientes, Figo and Zidane in the team. But, a defensive midfielder in his playing days, Del Bosque was the man who understood the importance of Claude Makalele. He understood that Makalele was required to provide the rhythm for all of Zidane and Figo's beautifully created symphony. When asked (after his Real Madrid stint came to an end) which of the foreign players he liked, he said "It may be a surprise but it has to be Claude Makelele. He ran and worked for Zidane, Michel Salgado and Roberto Carlos, and always did it with a smile. Yet they let him go to Chelsea... but perhaps I don't know the inside story."

With all the lovely football that his teams played, not many noticed Del Bosque's love for organisation. "In some ways it is easy to be the coach of Real Madrid," Del Bosque remarked, "It's an old truth: it's hard to build a great team without the players. But without a little organisation, you can fail very quickly even if you have the players."

However, after devoting almost his entire footballing life, as a player and manager at different levels, to Real Madrid, he was sacked by Real Madrid in 2003. This was 24 hours after he had won the la Liga for the second time. Many of us read the news in disbelief. I remember asking my friends if Real Madrid has lost it completely. We all saw it as the end of an era. But in a typical statement of bravado, Real Madrid claimed that the coach was "traditional" and they "believed in making changes in good times".

"Del Bosque is a traditional coach and we feel we need another kind of person," said the club president Perez. "We feel the team would be more potent with a more tactical coach. We want someone with a high technical ability but a slightly lower profile." "The fans love Del Bosque", he went on, "but they also appreciate me and what I have done for the club. We are willing to take this risk rather than follow a more conservative policy."

What followed is history. It is a testament to Vicente Del Bosque's genius that Real Madrid only won their next la Liga in 2007, and changed 7 coaches in the 4 year period after his departure.

7 years on, watching Del Bosque guide a talented Spanish side to the World Cup final, I am reminded of what a great influence he, through his Real Madrid team, had on all of us who love football. We will always be indebted to him for that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reporter: One of your former players, Zinedine Zidane, was voted FIFA's World Player of the Year last week and Ronaldo was No 3. Did they deserve it?

Del Bosque: I don't like these individual prizes. To try to explain why Roberto Carlos, Raul, Zidane or Ronaldo deserve such an award is nonsense. How can you compare the different contribution of each player? They all share the greatest quality: they have given Real Madrid back its status as the greatest club in the world.