January 28 – El Macca | On This Football Day

January 28 – El Macca

FOR whatever reason not many British footballers try their luck abroad, instead choosing to play out their whole careers in the hustle and bustle of the Premiership. Ian Rush once remarked that “moving from Wales to Italy is like moving to a different country.” One player who did the see the logic in moving to country with better food and better weather was Steve McManaman, who today in 1999 agreed a deal to join Spanish giants Real Madrid in the summer.

The shaggy-haired Scouser and boyhood Evertonian signed with Liverpool as a fresh-faced 17-year old in 1990 and it didn’t take long for him to establish his place in the side. His forays down the Anfield wing during the 1990′s were one of the highlights of Liverpool’s under-achieving ‘Spice Boys’ era. They were certainly a darn sight better than those Armani suits – but the less said about those, the better.

It was thanks to McManaman’s work in the assist column that the likes of Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen could boast such good scoring records, but Macca could still be relied on to score some of the decade’s best goals in a Liverpool shirt. It didn’t take too long for a series of admirers from across the continent to start fluttering their eyes his way, and following a dalliance with Barcelona in 1997, Macca made the transition to sunny Spain as he left on a Bosman to join Real Madrid.

Liverpool’s fans weren’t too impressed with the move and chucked around the usual ‘Judas’ jibes and accused him of selling-out, as his new weekly wage would be around £60,000, making him one of the highest paid players in the world. The Spanish press though got very excited by the move, with newspaper Marca screaming out “Macca Yes!” He didn’t take long to make an impact at the Bernabeu, scoring three goals and bagging several assists in his first couple of months and had a fairytale ending to his first season as the club picked up their eighth European Cup thanks to a man-of-the-match performance and spectacular goal from the player now dubbed ‘El Macca.’

However it wasn’t all fun and games during McManaman’s four-year spell with Los Merengues. Florentino Perez’s Galactico project came into play in the summer of 2000 with the arrival of Luis Figo. When Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham all followed over the next three summers Macca was finding himself increasingly marginalised and his playing time suffered. Not one to kick up a fuss Macca kept quiet and refused to criticise the board while he was still at the club. In his excellent autobiography released in 2004 he would call this process the “Disneyfication of Real Madrid.”

Still, the boy done good. No other English players of his era can boast of two Champions League medals and two La Liga titles, so fair play. Below is as good a collection of goals as you’ll ever see, so enjoy that and come back tomorrow for more of the same.