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Real hopeful of new era of European domination
By Iain Rogers LISBON (Reuters) - When Real Madrid's team of Zinedine Zidane-inspired "galacticos" won the Spanish club's ninth European crown in 2002 it was supposed to mark the beginning of another golden era of European domination. As it turned out, and despite hundreds of millions of euros spent on players, it took the world's richest club by income another 12 years to win the coveted 10th title, or "decima", a record-extending feat they finally achieved with Saturday's 4-1 extra-time win against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final in Lisbon. This time around, big-spending Real president Florentino Perez will be desperate to consolidate the club's position at the summit of European soccer and avoid the mistakes that led to him stepping down in 2006 after a poor run of results. Since the construction magnate's return in 2009, Real have splashed more than 600 million euros ($818 million) on the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, both of whom scored in Saturday's showpiece. More...
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