Real Madrid’s non-Galactico version under Carlo Ancelotti is a lovable side still competing at the very top

Last week, Real Madrid were crowned the champions of Spain; this mid-week, they could topple Bayern Munich and reach the Champions League final, their second in three seasons. Such vaulting success is no novelty for the Spanish powerhouse, the most successful in their country, in the continent, the richest club in the world, and an institution that still fills and fuels the dreams of the best talents on earth.

But Real Madrid are not as glitzy as they used to be, in the dizzying splash of wealth at the stroke of this century, the dawn of the Galactico era under President Florentino Perez; or the second Galactico iteration upon his re-election. He remains the president, but they spend rather than splurge; the glamour is not as eye-popping as the heydays of Zinedine Zidane and Co, or the peak of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. Those Madrid incarnations were as much about stacking trophies as about a parade of football’s most glittering talent. A jewel-shop in boots.

These days, it’s a different Madrid, a more likable, acceptable and even lovable version, playing a truly mortal brand of football, orchestrated by a nucleus of unpretentious footballers. None would, even Luka Modric, the lone Ballon’d Or winner among them, waltz into a team of the century, forget of all time. There are those that could potentially scale the loftiest of peaks, like Jude Bellingham or Vinicius Junior, but in their present form, this Madrid side is different to any other this century.

Not that it’s a cheaply assembled team—it still costs a staggering Rs 8296 crore, but third in the world, behind Manchester City (Rs 10,162 crore) and Arsenal (Rs 8948 crore). If for the first 15 years of this century Madrid broke the transfer fee record five