How to win the Champions League: Real Madrid

Madrid president Florentino Perez has overseen two periods in the club’s history, having served at the helm between 2000-06 before returning in 2009.

During his first stint, he aggressively pursued the signatures of the world’s biggest stars, or ‘Galacticos’.

In 2000, Portuguese forward Luis Figo became the world’s most expensive footballer when he quit Barcelona to join their fierce rivals Madrid for £37m.

The following summer, Los Blancos set a new transfer world record when they signed Zidane from Juventus for £45.8m.

In the summer of 2002, Madrid paid £28.5m to acquire Brazilian World Cup winner Ronaldo from the Italian side and in 2003, David Beckham joined from Manchester United for £24.5m.

However, Madrid only won one Champions League and two La Liga trophies between 2000-06.

Calderon, who succeeded Perez, talks about the flaws in his predecessor’s strategy, saying, “work always beats talent when talent doesn’t work”.

During the 77-year-old’s second term, he has focused more on buying young talents.

Brazilian winger Vinicius Jr signed for £38.7m in 2018, aged 18 and has become arguably the team’s best player.

In 2023, Madrid paid £88.5m to bring then 20-year-old English midfielder Jude Bellingham to the Bernabeu. In his first season, he was the club’s top scorer in the league as they secured the Spanish title and a 15th European Cup.

The Independent’s chief football writer Miguel Delaney describes this “modern Galactico,” approach by saying, “it’s signing young, but it’s signing young at a certain level”.

Hunter calls Perez “the great puppet master” who orchestrated the success of 2023-24.