Real Madrid poised for assault on two fronts

As Real Madrid prepares for a twin assault on the European Champions League and the Spanish Primera Liga, their opponents must be wondering what they will have to do to stop them.

Although the German champions Bayern Munich knocked them out of the Champions League in the semifinals last year, going on to steal their European crown, Real secured another crack at the title by cantering to their 28th Spanish championship win.

Since then, they have smashed the world transfer record to bring World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane to the Bernabeu for a whopping 12.5 billion pesetas ($66 million).

Maybe more significantly, they have also completed a financial deal which has, at a stroke, turned the club from being probably the most indebted, to one of the most financially powerful in the world.

The mastermind of Real's off-field transformation has been their hard-talking, yet visionary, president Florentino Perez.

He took over the Presidency from Lorenzo Sanz in July last year, promising to reduce the club's enormous debts, estimated at the time to be about 46 billion pesetas ($242 million), and to renovate their aging facilities.

Perez then went and astonished everyone, by securing the coveted signature of European Player of the Year Luis Figo from Real's most hated rivals, Barcelona, for a then world record 10 billion pesetas ($52.5million).

But Perez, a former government official turned real estate developer, was already working on securing the financial future of the "blancos."

Using his contacts and influence, he managed to secure the sale of Real's training ground Ciudad Deportivo back to the Madrid Regional Council for an estimated 70 billion pesetas ($370 million) in May of this year, wiping out their massive debts in one fell swoop.

Predictably the Catalan portion of Spain was outraged. The local authority in Madrid handed over the land during the Franco years, and was now buying the land back with taxpayers' money.

To add insult to injury, the council amended a bye-law restricting land development on the site as they hope to build a complex to host the 2012 Olympic Games, and also to build four new office complexes, one of which will be owned by Real.

The Spanish champions have been given a parcel of land on the outskirts of the city to develop a purpose-built facility, which they claim will be the best in the world.

Although they now have the financial clout to buy whomever they want, it is still important to have a coach who can blend all these superstars into an effective unit.

Vicente Del Bosque was an unlikely candidate for the job, but has proved himself a capable coach keen to play the game in the style that the fans expect -- thrilling, attacking football.

When Perez took over Del Bosque, a former youth team coach, was regarded as a stand-in replacement for the departed John Toshack, even though he had just made Real the Champions of Europe for the eighth time.

They had a poor domestic season finishing fifth, with Deportivo La Coruna taking the title, and many believed Perez would move for a big name. However, but he stood by his quiet coach signing, him to a lucrative long-term contract. His faith was rewarded with this year's title.

On the field, Real have an awesome array of talent. With Figo and now Zidane pulling the strings in midfield, they have La Liga's top scorer last season with 25 goals Raul. The 23-year-old product of Real's youth system has now scored 117 goals in the top-flight of Spanish football. His strike partner last season, Jose Maria Guti, bagged 14.

In goal, they have the 20-year-old Spanish international Iker Casillas, who is guarded by the likes of Fernando Hierro and the Brazilian Roberto Carlos.

If Deportivo, Barcelona or Valencia are to beat them to the Spanish title next year, they will surely have to hope the team does not perform to the levels that we know its constituent parts can achieve.

The European champions Bayern Munich would be right to be looking over their shoulders warily.