From Ronaldo in 2002 to James Rodriguez in 2014, Real Madrid have a proud history of spending big on the biggest talent at the World Cup. Here we predict the 2018 Galacticos...
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So four full matches for the boys at the Bernabeu to trawl through on Saturday and you can just be certain that the M word was banned around the corridors of power in Madrid.
That M of course, relating to arch nemesis Lionel Messi who made his first appearance at the World Cup as his side were held to a 1-1 draw by Iceland. Oh how they laughed in the Alfredo Di Stéfano suite as the ‘La Pulga’ kept up his tradition of not being very good at taking penalties, as Messi’s effort was beaten away by Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson.
And that save is perhaps reason enough for the Madridistas to bring the short-sleeved shot stopper to the capital ahead of the new season, but instead we’ve opted for a player who really stood out in what was certainly the match of the day on Day 3 in Russia.
At 28 years of age, Luis Advincula may have believed that he is destined to see out his career on the far side of the Atlantic, as the Peru defender currently plies his trade on loan at that well known Mexican outfit, Lobos BUAP.
But the Peruvian speedster – recently revealed as the fastest footballer on the planet – was on fire today as he repeatedly left the red jerseys all along the Denmark left flank for dust, bombing up and down the right pushing his side on right through to the last minute of injury time.
Advincula set up several chances, most notably for Farfan, who should have scored, and had a couple of looks at goal himself.
The Madrid bosses would certainly love the idea of having a man with such a title at the club, and on top of that, a defender with little emphasis on actually defending, it would appear that Advincula and Real are made for each other.
Not
When clubs sell one of their players, they might often insert a first-option clause as that niggling doubt in the back of their mind tells them that the departing player may one day fulfil his potential and suddenly turn into a world beater.
Angel Di Maria left the Bernabeu following a fine showing at the 2014 World Cup, but following his big-money move to Manchester United, the one-time wing wizard lasted just one year of his five-year contract at Old Trafford before getting bounced across the English Channel to France and on to PSG.
Needless to say, if a clause existed in Di Maria’s sale from Madrid, it was not triggered and on the back of today’s performance against Iceland, the player will not be heading back to the Bernabeu any time soon.
Di Maria spent the afternoon proving most ineffective, hugging the left flank as Messi was left to plough a lone furrow in an attempt to turn Iceland over.
The man out on the wing looked a shadow of his former self, or perhaps people have just watched his game and learned how to nullify his one-dimensional, headless chicken running down blind alleys tactics.
Perhaps the only surprising thing that Di Maria did all afternoon was that he managed to stay on the pitch for 76 minutes before being put out of his misery.
Not wanting to be too harsh on the man, I doubled back on our earlier match tracker to see how he fared with mentions throughout.
Four – once in the team sheet, once for a cross to the back post, another for a mis-placed pass and finally for his departure to allow Pavon to come on to stake a claim for his position for the upcoming game with Croatia.
Fair to say, the lad’s got a chance.
