Magic shirts in Madrid .. Story of failure

23 July 2017:There is a historic link between magic and exact shirt numbers in football. The number 10 had its significance in football after Pele, Diego Maradona and Roberto Baggio wore it during their career, while the number 9 shirt is linked with amazing strikers like Cristiano Ronaldo and Alan Shearer, and the number 11 shirt after the great Romario wore it.

But in Real Madrid, the magic numbers have a curse on their holders. In this story we will talk about the worst five spells for these number holders.

5 – Wesley Sneijder

He moved to Real Madrid from Ajax Amesterdam as a promising Dutch talent with many expectations. He wore number 10, but the player failed to shine in Madrid despite winning the league in 2008.

Sneijder left Madrid to join Internazionale in Italy, where he was the mastermind in their amazing run in 2010, when the team won the Italian League, Italian Cup and UEFA Champions League.

4 – Samuel Eto’o

He travelled from his home country Cameroon with so much hope to play for one of the biggest teams in the world. He was living his dream wearing the number 9 shirt until Real Madrid released him in 2000 after only three games with the team in four years.

Samuel’s love and gratitude to Real Madrid turned into hate and a desire for revenge.
Eto’o played in Mallorca before joining Barcelona, where he proved to Real Madrid that they were wrong.

3 – Roberto Soldado
It was a huge responsibility on the youngster’s shoulders to wear the number 9 shirt after Ronaldo. He was a promising striker in the youth ranks.

He failed to be a regular player in the squad, so he left the club in 2008 to start a journey inside Spain. He played in Getafe, Valencia and Villareal, and he had a short spell in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspurs.

2 – James Rodriguez

As a gratitude to his amazing performance in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, taking Colombia to the quarter-finals, Real Madrid offered James the number 10 shirt.

He played three years with the club, winning two Champions League titles, but he didn’t play in both finals.

James left the club to join his former coach, Carlo Ancelotti, in Bayern Munchen.

1 – Michael Owen

Michael Owen was one of the “Galacticos“ team in Madrid, wearing number 11 with Zein Eldin Zidane, Ronaldo Nazario, Luis Figo and David Beckham.

He went to Real Madrid in 2004 as an England wonder kid, but he stayed the whole year on the bench.

He returned to England to play for Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, but he never regained his quality before joining Madrid.