A New Level of Prestige for Real Madrid

When the Bahamian-registered but American-owned oil tanker Prestige foundered and sank off Spain’s northern coast in November, it spilled millions of gallons of crude oil that fouled beaches and harbors, devastated wildlife and ruined the livelihood of local fishermen.

Oil companies, as is their all-too-often callous nature, shrug off such disasters as part of the cost of doing business.

Not so Real Madrid.

Within days of the ecological nightmare’s occurring, officials at the reigning world and European champion were on the telephone to their fellow Spanish clubs Deportivo La Coruna and Celta de Vigo, the two La Liga teams nearest to the disaster area.

Real Madrid wanted to help. It arranged a friendly match against a combined Deportivo-Celta team. The game would be played in Real’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

The proceeds would go to those families harmed most by the huge oil spill. Real Madrid promised to play all its stellar ensemble -- Ronaldo, Raul, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, everyone.

“We will line up with all of our stars,” Jorge Valdano, Real Madrid’s general manager, told Reuters at the time. “Even if we are playing Barcelona four days later, nothing bad can happen to you when you fight for such a good cause.

“I am sure our players will be more than pleased to help all those people who make their living from the sea.”

On Wednesday, that game was played.

That Real Madrid was willing to field a full-strength team just before a high-profile league match against its keenest rival speaks volumes for Coach Vicente del Bosque’s club.

It’s not always trophies won or honors accumulated that mark a true champion. Sometimes, it’s something else altogether.

Politics as Usual

Apparently, city council members in Naples, Italy, don’t have much pressing business these days, the city’s slums and high crime rate notwithstanding.

They had time, it seems, to pass a resolution last week, renaming the local stadium in honor of Diego Armando Maradona, the pudgy Argentine who once played there before cocaine got the better of him.

The name change, if approved by the Italian government, which still has to consider the matter, is unlikely to do much for Napoli’s fortunes. The once-proud but now downward-spiraling club languishes in Serie B and is in distinct danger of slipping into Serie C.

The Grim Ripper

Maradona had his faults, but he never resorted to the bizarre on-field behavior demonstrated by fellow Argentine Rodrigo Riep a couple of weeks ago.

Riep plays for Deportes La Serena, an obscure Chilean second-division team that was tied, 1-1, with league rival CD Antofagasta, which then scored a hotly disputed second goal that La Serena players believed should have been disallowed for offside.

Referee Claudio Aranda was trying to caution some of the protesting La Serena players when he dropped his yellow card.

Riep, in a moment of madness, snatched it up and tore it to pieces in front of the startled official.

Later, in apologizing, he blamed “nervousness and the helplessness he felt in the face of an injustice.”

It didn’t help his cause. Chilean league officials suspended him for four games -- three for ripping up the yellow card and one more for insulting an assistant referee.

Riep still managed the last word, however.

Asked by reporters in La Serena why tearing up the card was so easy, he replied: “It was made of cheap cardboard ... the same as the referee.”

Banks of England

With officials at the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, N.Y., preparing to stage a North American Soccer League reunion of sorts later this year, it was fitting that a couple of the NASL’s greatest names found themselves back in the news in recent days.

One was Hall of Fame coach Ron Newman. The other was a player who played for Newman with the NASL’s Fort Lauderdale Strikers -- Gordon Banks, England’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper of 1966.

Newman, 69, is doing color commentary on TV this season for his former MLS club, the Kansas City Wizards, and was delighted last week when Portsmouth, the team he played for more than a few decades ago, gained promotion to the English Premier League.

Banks was the focus of numerous interviews as the result of a save made by Arsenal’s David Seaman that preserved a 1-0 F.A. Cup semifinal victory over Sheffield United last Saturday.

British commentators instantly compared it to the stupendous save made by Banks against Pele during the England-Brazil World Cup match in Guadalajara, Mexico, nearly 33 years ago.

Even now, that still is regarded as the greatest save ever.

Seaman was only 6 at the time and probably did not see it. But Banks said the spectacular stop that Seaman, now 39, made off Canadian striker Paul Peschisolido’s close-range header was almost as good.

“Every save has its own context,” Banks told England’s Press Assn. “They are all different in some way. But you could put this one by David in the same category as mine against Pele in 1970.

“Pele’s header came from farther away ... and the fact that I stopped it was probably a lot down to instinct.

“But the great thing with David’s save is that he had his weight all on the wrong foot as far as taking off for the dive was concerned. He had to shift all his weight onto the other foot first and then get right across his goal.

“Then he didn’t just block the ball with his arm, he scooped it away, which was crucial. Had he just blocked it, the ball could well have dropped down for the Sheffield United player to knock in.

“For any goalkeeper, it would have been an outstanding save, but at the age of 39 it is quite remarkable.”

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EUROPE’S TOP 20

A look at Europe’s leading teams based on this season’s performance and heading into this week’s decisive European Cup and UEFA Cup matches, with Grahame L. Jones’ comments:

*--* Rank Team Comment 1 Real Madrid European Cup quarterfinalist and Spanish league leader 2 Juventus European Cup quarterfinalist and Italian league leader 3 Manchester United European Cup quarterfinalist and English league leader 4 Inter Milan European Cup quarterfinalist and second in the Italian league 5 AC Milan European Cup quarterfinalist and third in the Italian league 6 FC Porto UEFA Cup semifinalist and Portuguese league leader 7 Ajax Amsterdam European Cup quarterfinalist and second in the Dutch league, 8 Valencia European Cup quarterfinalist and fourth in the Spanish league 9 Barcelona European Cup quarterfinalist 10 Bayern Munich German Bundesliga leader 11 Arsenal Second in the English Premier League 12 PSV Eindhoven Dutch league leader 13 Celtic UEFA Cup semifinalist and second in the Scottish Premier League 14 Lazio UEFA Cup semifinalist and fourth in the Italian league 15 Real Sociedad Tied for second in the Spanish league 16 Deportivo La Coruna Tied for second in the Spanish league 17 Boavista UEFA Cup semifinalist 18 Newcastle United Third in the English Premier League 19 VfB Stuttgart Second in the German Bundesliga 20 Borussia Dortmund Third in the German Bundesliga

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