Royal Visit

By Grahame L. Jones

July 17, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

When Iberia Flight 6279 touched down at O’Hare in Chicago on Thursday afternoon after a nine-hour journey from Madrid, it marked the arrival in the United States of soccer royalty.

No matter who walked off the plane first -- Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, David Beckham, Michael Owen, Raul, Iker Casillas -- regal footstep followed regal footstep.

That’s how it is when you play for Real Madrid.

A purple mantle comes with the job. Sign on the dotted line, for however many tens of millions of dollars it might be, and become part of a lineage that stretches to the club’s founding in 1902.

Other clubs are older. Other clubs have equally famous players. Other clubs have as much hardware in the trophy cabinet.

None have the aura of Real Madrid.

It is no coincidence that Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia are frequent visitors to Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Real Madrid’s 78,500-seat home and the site of the 1982 World Cup final.

If the Home Depot Center is a “cathedral,” as MLS Commissioner Don Garber claims, then Santiago Bernabeu is heaven.

Only Barcelona would beg to differ, but that’s another story.

On Saturday, the Real entourage arrived at Soldier Field for an afternoon match against Chivas de Guadalajara. Such was the attraction that 54,432 showed up.

On the scoreboard, Real Madrid didn’t show up until late, getting goals by Guti in the 88th minute and by Roberto Soldado in injury time to beat the Mexican team, 3-1. Chivas had taken the lead on a Francisco Palencia goal in the 73rd minute and Alvaro Mejia tied it four minutes later.Chicago was the first stop on a whirlwind world tour for Real Madrid, a preseason jaunt through North America and Asia intended, ostensibly, to prepare the team for the rigors of the Spanish and European seasons ahead.

More to the point, the tour is intended to spread the word, to market the team to a global audience. It’s all about branding. It’s all about selling merchandise. It’s all about money.

Florentino Perez, Real Madrid’s 58-year-old president, cannot go around dropping $56 million on a Figo (2000), $66 million on a Zidane (2001), $44 million on a Ronaldo (2002), $41 million on a Beckham (2003) and $26 million on a Walter Samuel (2004) unless the club can rake in that cash from somewhere.

America and Asia are the latest “somewheres.” According to one estimate, Real Madrid will earn $25.6 million from this two-week, four-nation, tour with stops in the U.S., China, Japan and Thailand.

Ivan Gazidis, who, as Major League Soccer’s deputy commissioner, spent three years trying to lure Real Madrid to these shores, told the Chicago Tribune that the 29-time Spanish champions and nine-time European champions wanted “to form a courtship with U.S. soccer fans.”

On Monday night, Southern Californians will be wooed, if not wowed. Los Angeles will be Real Madrid’s second tour stop. The “Galacticos” will play the Galaxy at a long sold-out Home Depot Center.

David and Goliath does not begin to explain the gulf between the teams.

Real Madrid is today where the Galaxy hopes to be a century from now.

Underlining that fact, Perez on Friday claimed that Real Madrid has overtaken Manchester United and is now the world’s wealthiest club.

“We have now ensured that our income is greater than any other team,” he told Marca, a Spanish sports daily. “Only Manchester United are close to us, but this year we have overtaken them. We have solved our economic problems forever.”

Real Madrid does not have an owner in the sense that Manchester United is owned by American billionaire Malcolm Glazer, and Chelsea (another summer visitor to the U.S.) is owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

Instead, the club, which is valued by Forbes magazine at $920 million with an income that tops $300 million per year, is owned by its members, a situation Perez enjoys.

“Every night I sleep soundly, safe in the knowledge that Real Madrid will not end up in the hands of any one particular person,” he told Marca.

Apparently, the club can’t end up in the hands of any one coach, either.

Real Madrid has failed to win a significant trophy in the last two seasons despite changing coaches four times.

Spain’s Vicente del Bosque was replaced by Portugal’s Carlos Queiroz, who was replaced by Spain’s Jose Antonio Camacho, who was replaced for three months by Spain’s Mariano Garcia Remon, who was replaced by the current man in the hot seat, Brazil’s Vanderlei Luxemburgo.

Luxemburgo apparently regards this tour as no more than a necessary evil. The disdain was evident when he told the club’s website that, “It will be a preparation for the season just like any other, nothing more.”

Of more interest to Luxemburgo, former coach of Brazil’s national team, is the hoped-for acquisition of the team’s next “Galactico,” Brazilian forward Robinho.

Real Madrid has been pursuing the 21-year-old for several months. Its most recent offer to Santos of Brazil was for $25 million, a figure rejected out of hand. Santos wants any buyer to pay the $50-million buyout clause in Robinho’s contract, which runs through 2008.

Meanwhile, Robinho is two weeks overdue for training with Santos, his heart and mind already in Spain.

Real Madrid probably will prevail, but just which player or players will make way for him is unclear. Owen and Guti seem the most likely prospects.

Liverpool has voiced interest in Figo. Manchester United has voiced interest in Owen. Chelsea could figure in the equation. Rumors in Italy this week had Real Madrid sending Ronaldo to Inter Milan in exchange for another rapidly rising Brazilian star, Adriano. Guti is being pursued by four clubs from England and Spain.

Already this month, Real Madrid has signed Uruguayan internationals Pablo Garcia and Carlos Diogo, but lost out to Juventus in a bid to get Arsenal’s French international Patrick Vieira.

Rumors swirl around Real Madrid. The club’s website even lists all the players linked to it, rightly or wrongly, in the world’s press. The interest is immense. That’s why no fewer than 30 credentialed media members from Spain are following the team on its tour.

Perez, meanwhile, simply wants more trophies.

“We have had problems in that we have believed we could win our games without even getting off the team bus,” he told Marca. “Last season, we finished second, and that was a failure for this club.”

Uneasy rests the crown, on soccer royalty as on any other.

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Real deal

Real Madrid’s tour itinerary, and the players it brought:

* July 14 -- Flew from Madrid to Chicago.

* July 16 -- Game against Chivas de Guadalajara in Chicago.

* Today -- Fly from Chicago to Los

Angeles.

* Monday -- Game against Galaxy at Home Depot Center.

* Tuesday -- Fly from Los Angeles to Beijing.

* Saturday -- Game against Beijing Gouan.

* July 24 -- Fly from Beijing to Tokyo.