Real reveal £296m debt but spending to continue

Published on Monday 21 September 2009 00:30

REAL Madrid have announced a debt of £296million (327million) after a summer of lavish spending in the transfer market. Having doled out some £226million (250million) on the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso, Madrid revealed the debt at their annual assembly yesterday.

However, the club appears to have lost none of its appetite for spending, with the assembly also approving a new record budget of 381million (422million) for the current season.

"We're going through a delicate moment with the world financial crisis but we had to make a big effort for the new arrivals of players, which explains the debt," club president Florentino Perez said. The figures are likely to be jumped on by Uefa, whose president Michel Platini has announced plans to bar clubs from major European competitions unless they restrict their budget to spending only what they earn.

Ronaldo scored twice to lead Real Madrid to a 5-0 win over La Liga new boys Xerez at the Bernabeu yesterday.

The Portuguese winger netted the opener inside the first minute with a searing run and shot and Xerez, in their first top-flight campaign, must have feared the worst. But the floodgates remained stubbornly closed until the last 15 minutes when Ronaldo, Guti, Karim Benzema and Ruud van Nistelrooy netted in quick succession to settle a restless home crowd.

Real moved ahead of champions Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao on goal difference at the top of the standings with three wins from three. Barca hammered Atletico Madrid 5-2 on Saturday and Bilbao overcame Villarreal 3-2 earlier in the day.

In Italy, a two-goal burst from striker Diego Milito gave Serie A champions Inter Milan an unconvincing 2-1 win at Cagliari yesterday, while AC Milan also struggled to beat Bologna 1-0.

Inter fell behind to Jeda's first-half penalty. Coach Jose Mourinho, later sent to the stands for arguing with officials, brought on forward Mario Balotelli at the break to change shape and the move paid dividends.

Good pressure by Samuel Eto'o forced the home defence to give the ball away and Argentina's Milito ran through to score on 51 minutes before dinking in a second five minutes later following a long ball over the top.

Leaders Juventus made it four wins from four in Saturday's 2-0 win over Livorno and Sampdoria joined them at the top after securing maximum points from the first four games of the season for the first time with a 4-1 thrashing of Siena.

Hamburg SV clung on at the top of the Bundesliga yesterday after being held to a 1-1 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt.

They are top on goal difference ahead of Bayer Leverkusen, who managed only a 0-0 draw against Werder Bremen, and are also on 14 points. Bayern Munich continued their climb up the table, beating Nuremberg 2-1 to go third.