British players were fearful to leave the islands and most of them stayed in the United Kingdom. In La Liga, we’ve seen few British players in comparison with other nationalities, however some of them left a impression in the Spanish supporters. Now we want to remember the five top British players who wore the Real Madrid t-shirt.
Laurie Cunningham
Laurie Cunningham joined Real Madrid in 1979 and he became the first British player to ever wear the white t-shirt in the modern era. At that time, he was breaking all the records in England as the first black footballer to ever play for the English national team -this was amended later- and enjoying his time at West Bromwich Albion, a great team in the 1980’. Actually, Los Blancos paid £950,000 for the transfer fee.
Cunningham scored 13 goals in La Liga and he was present in the European Cup final lost in Paris against Liverpool. He also witnessed the worst defeat in Real Madrid history in Europe, against Kaiserslautern. He left Real Madrid in 1984, when Ulie Stielike arrived to the club. Sadly, he died in 1989 in Madrid in a car accident.
Steve McManaman
Steve McManaman signed for Real Madrid in 1999, a rough time for Los Blancos. Guus Hidding was sacked after winning the Intercontinental Cup and John Toshack was the new manager. The former Liverpool winger impressed the fans at the beginning and he earned a spot in the team. The Welsh manager was sacked and Vicente del Bosque took over.
McManaman role’s continue to improve in the team and he was one of the leaders of the team that arrived to the final of the Champions League in 2000. The Englishman scored a great goal from a volley outside the box to secure the victory (it was the 2-0 and Real Madrid beat Valencia 3-0). He was the first English player to win the European Cup with a foreign team. Before, he also scored a very important goal in the semifinals against FC Barcelona.
With the arrival of Florentino Pérez in 2000 and the start of Los Galácticos era, the role of McManaman became less important. He was even told to leave, but he was sure of succeeding in Spain. McManaman stayed in the club until 2003, so he also won the Champions League in 2002, even playing some minutes in the final in Glasgow by replacing Luis Figo. He left the club in 2003 heading to Manchester City.
David Beckham
Los Galácticos were a reality a Florentino Pérez made possible his dream: Raúl González, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo Nazario and David Beckham. Los Blancos were fighting to sign Ronaldinho, who finally joined FC Barcelona, and Beckham was signed in the summer of 2003 for €35M from Manchester United. Media, fashion, merchandising and football came to Madrid with the Englishman.
However, his time at Real Madrid weren’t the best. Los Galácticos policy failed and Carlos Queiroz or José Antonio Camacho couldn’t impose their character over the stars. In his four season with Los Blancos, Beckham scored 13 goals in La Liga and 28 in European competitions. He only won one La Liga title in 2006-07 and the Spanish Supercup.
Michael Owen
In the Galácticos Era, Michael Owen was also a key part of the team. In 2004 Florentino Pérez signed Owen from Liverpool and paid €12M for the Golden Ball winner. He had a very slow start and we couldn’t say he succeed with Los Blancos. However, he was able to score an important goal in El Clásico against Barcelona (4-2) and he managed to find the net 13 times in La Liga despite his lack of opportunities. Owen had the highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes. He left the club in 2015 to Newcastle.
Gareth Bale
The fifth and the most successful British player to ever wear the Real Madrid t-shirt is Gareth Bale. This article is not complete, because the Welshman could put his signature in one of the most important eras of Real Madrid history.
At this time, Bale has scored more than 50 goals in La Liga. Together with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, they form the BBC, one of the best attacking lines in the football history. Bale scored crucial goals in the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona in 2014 and he was also a important player in the two Champions League won in 2014 and 2016.
Jonathan Woodgate also wore the Real Madrid t-shirt but the injuries didn’t allow him to shine with Los Blancos.
