Real Madrid players dispute Danish star’s flop

In 2005, the burly midfielder left Premier League club Everton, where he had played 141 matches, to join legendary Spanish club Real Madrid. But for all practical purposes, that move was the beginning of the end for Gravesen, who eventually retired from football in early 2009 under less than positive circumstances.

After initially being lauded in the Spanish press with the nickname ‘El Ogro’ – ‘The Bull’ – Gravesen became one of the scapegoats for the club’s failure to win the La Liga title in the 2005-2006 season.

Despite the club finishing second to archrivals Barcelona in the standings, the superstar line-up featuring David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Raul Gonzalez, and Brazilian stars Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos was expected to fare much better than its final 20-10-8 record.

Gravesen lasted only that one season in Madrid before being unceremoniously shipped off to Scottish club Celtic. Media reports at the time labelled him as a poor influence on the team, alleging he was reckless during practices and disliked by his teammates.

A hard tackle on teammate Robinho during a training session flamed the rumours.

But now several of Gravesen’s former teammates have come out in his defence, saying the Dane was actually well-liked by most of the club’s players and was more or less a scapegoat for the club’s failures, along with the team’s sports director and manager at the time.

Goalkeeper Iker Casillas called Gravesen a ‘breath of fresh air at a difficult time’.

‘We weren’t winning titles during that period and there was often a bad atmosphere in the locker room,’ Casillas told Spanish sports newspaper Marca. ‘Thomas was the one that got the rest of us to laugh. He’d do things like box with Ronaldo or start a water fight.’

‘It’s sad if Real Madrid is the reason his career went downhill,’ added Casillas. ‘He didn’t get any backing from the club and was most often the one who was ripped in the media for our losses. As his teammates we should have defended him.’

Sergio Ramos, Real’s star defender, also believed Gravesen got a raw deal in Madrid.

‘He was actually a really good player, but I think he had a hard time with the Spanish style sometimes,’ said Ramos. ‘He came across as being too aggressive, and we’re not really used to that kind of play in La Liga.’

‘Real Madrid fans want extraordinary players and they and the media labelled Gravesen as being only a hard tackler. They never saw that he was a good overall footballer. But this is one of the most difficult clubs in the world in which to gain acceptance.’

During that period, Gravesen had a few unflattering interviews with the Spanish media and then later decided to permanently stop talking to press – something that may or may not have helped his cause, according to Spanish football sportswriter Sid Lowe.

‘I personally liked Thomas Gravesen. He was a great guy and a good footballer,’ said Lowe. ‘But it was painful to watch the war he conducted with the Spanish media.’

‘If you look at Real’s current midfielder Lass Diarra, he doesn’t do any more than Gravesen did for the club. But he understands the media game better. And I think Gravesen was just the wrong player at the wrong time for Real Madrid and it cost him dearly.’

Arrigo Sacchi was hired as Real Madrid’s sports director to develop ownership’s idea to create ‘Los Galacticos’, a team of superstars that would make the club nearly invincible. Sacchi brought Gravesen to Madrid, but ended up being fired even before the Dane was sold off.

‘A lot of people ask me whether getting Thomas Gravesen was a good move for Real Madrid. At the time, we only really had offensive minded players and lacked a tough Claude Makelele type like Thomas to control the midfield,’ explained Sacchi. ‘But Thomas became the victim of a series of bad results for the club. The head coach at the time was also focused on offence and had the wrong attitude towards him.’

‘I still believe that Thomas Gravesen was a success at Real Madrid, period.’

After being sold to Celtic for £2 million, Gravesen initially looked as if he had got a fresh start to his career at the age of 30. He quit the national team, saying he wanted to focus solely on his new club.

But he quickly fell out of favour with head coach Gordon Strachan and was loaned out to Everton the following season. Again, after a good start with his old club, he was not offered a new contract after the 2008 season and went back to Celtic.

Knowing he would get no playing time in Glasgow and failing to find an interested club, Gravesen announced his retirement from football on 27 January, 2009.

Rumours surfaced in September last year that Gravesen would attempt to make a comeback this season, but those rumours could not be confirmed.

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