A Real Madrid legend criticized the ‘Galacticos’ era of his former club while in Munich to enjoy the Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan.

The term was coined during President Florentino Perez’s first mandate at the turn of the century, when he went out and bought the likes of Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo Nazario and David Beckham.

While it was a marketing dream come true for the Spanish soccer giant to have so many superstars in the same outfit, their collective success left a lot to be desired while the Bernabeu trophy cabinet contained no further UCL crowns between 2002 and 2014.

Asked about this weekend’s final in Munich, legendary midfielder Christian Karembeu, who played for Madrid between 1997 and 2000, acknowledged that the French club in the tie is a favourite but said “in football you never know. Inter beat Barça suffering and PSG are in the mood to be champions”.

Talking about his compatriot Kylian Mbappe, Karembeu noted that “at Madrid he has had a magical season scoring goals and adapting quickly… Hopefully it will help him to reach the Champions League final in the future”.

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“For me, his departure from PSG has nothing to do with PSG being in the final, the issue is that 14 years later it can win the title because it has been laying the foundations to reap the rewards. We don’t win anything with Galacticos. Luis Enrique has made a team to win,” Karembeu concluded, in what could be taken as a criticism of Madrid’s Galacticos era.

Another Real Madrid icon speaks out

One of its main protagonists Luis Figo, who switched from bitter rival FC Barcelona in the year Karembeu fled the Bernabeu – 2000 – said that as a “fan”, he sees there are “so many strong teams, who have the same aspirations, [which means]

that you can’t always win”.

“It’s very boring when the same team always wins, but you have to learn the lesson from the club, to sign, improve in whatever is necessary, bring in whoever can improve the team and try again next year,” the Portuguese, who played for Real Madrid for half a decade, added.