Michael Owen is in danger of becoming a symbol of Real Madrid’s decline – but is winning fans over and doing pretty well when given a chance, as Phil Ball explains
So Michael Owen is the latest victim of those nasty local cliques in which Johnny Foreigner has specialised, ever since Kevin Keegan went to Hamburg? Real Madrid’s Raúl, a nasty piece of work according to certain recent reports in the English sports media, has apparently been making life uncomfortable for the latest export of England’s finest, telling the recently departed José Antonio Camacho to leave him out of the team because he wanted his mate Fernando Morientes to play instead. Raúl was also the alleged guilty party in the cold shouldering of Nicolas Anelka, but if this was true then surely he deserves a medal for bravery above and beyond the call of duty.