Real Madrid in blue vs Chelsea in crisis: a duel of antagonistic economic realities in Europe

Having spent a week of mourning at Stamford Bridge, real Madrid Y Chelsea will measure forces again this Tuesday for the pass to the semifinal of the Champions League. It will be the first time that the ‘Blues’ set foot on the imposing pitch of the Santiago Bernabéu, where they will seek to overcome the 3-1 they suffered in London. At this point, absolutely everything influences. Therefore, it is pertinent to compare the economic realities of both clubs, which are currently very different.

While the Madrid team can boast of a fairly optimal financial stability with Florentino Pérez at the helm, the London team is going through a very adverse economic present without the millions of Román Abramóvich.

Uncertainty in Chelsea

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine inevitably put Chelsea on the ropes. Since then, the vast majority of news that the ‘Blues’ have received has been largely negative.

After handing over the management of the London institution to the club’s charitable foundation, Abramóvich thought it appropriate to put Chelsea up for sale. And that was what he did. Several interested in acquiring the rights to the ‘Blues’ emerged, but nothing materialized.

Meanwhile, the British government imposed harsh sanctions on the Russian tycoon for his “close relationship” with his country’s regime, freezing all his assets. This prevents Chelsea from filling its stadium, selling or buying players and renewing footballers. Likewise, the sale of the club itself was also affected.

You have to keep in mind that the ‘Blues’ have a special license that has changed over the days. That is why Stamford Bridge was able to open its doors in the first leg against Real Madrid.

This entire process is expected to be completed by the end of this month. Meanwhile, the financial situation of the club will continue to be very affected. And it is that Abramóvich’s enormous investment of more than two billion euros in the ‘Blues’ since 2003, which has allowed him to finance his indisputable success with 21 titles (two Champions League), is already a thing of the past.

Now, Chelsea’s sources of income have been paralyzed and damaged, after several games have been played without the presence of the public in the stadiums. In addition to ticket sales, the loss of sponsors has also hit the club’s economy hard..

The first company to leave the English club was ‘Three’who in 2020 signed a millionaire agreement with the ‘Blues’ to sponsor their shirts, in addition to placing several advertisements on Stamford Bridge.

Another main sponsor of the team that decided to suspend their agreement was hyundai.

Of course, at Stamford Bridge a financial hole was feared with the possible departure of Nike, the company that leaves the most income for the London club. In 2016, Chelsea signed a commercial agreement for 15 years with the North American company, which exceeds 1,000 million euros. Fortunately for the ‘Blues’, Nike still maintains that financial support.

Be that as it may, uncertainty has taken over all this time at Chelsea. It is inevitable that a situation as adverse as the one he is going through will not affect the team led by Thomas Tuchel on a sporting level. However, the ‘Blues’ are doing everything possible to achieve good results despite the economic problems.

Stability in Madrid

The pandemic has had a negative impact on football. All clubs in the world suffered a low blow to their economy without exception. However, in the midst of this adverse scenario, real Madrid he knew how to get away with it and maintained his financial stability with great success.

Since Florentino Pérez assumed the presidency of the white club in the year 2000 (his first stage), economic abundance has remained firm.

However, in recent years the ravages of the pandemic have been inevitable and the white club has suffered, but not as much as might be expected. It is true that it lost 300 million euros in revenue; however, it also achieved a surplus of 874 thousand eurosan extraordinary fact considering that UEFA estimated losses of up to 8,700 million euros in the various teams.

In order to cushion most of the negative effects on its economy, In addition, the salary reduction was also an important factor for the white club to maintain its financial health in a very difficult time.

“Real Madrid has been the best club in Europe, by far, when it comes to managing the issue of the pandemic at an economic level. He has always had budgetary rigor of his salary expense and the strategy of transferring and selling players has been very important, and by not making any incorporation his situation is better and allows him to manage a box and have access to financing “said Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, at the time.

Now, with the progressive return to normality and the totality of the public in the stadiums, the white club is recovering what was lost and continues to increase its economic power. In fact, in the Madridista assembly that took place in November of last year, it approved a budget of 695 million euros for the 2021/22 campaign.

Not by chance, Real Madrid made several offers for Kylian Mbappé in the last summer transfer market in Europe. Even Florentino Pérez was willing to pay 200 million euros for the operation, but PSG closed the exit door to the French striker.

So, without much spending in sight and with considerable financial rewards being garnered this season in the Champions League, Real Madrid has a fairly fortified economy. You can afford to spend whatever it takes to boost your squad.

In all this context, the duel at the Santiago Bernabéu will feature two rivals with conflicting financial situations, but with luxury squads. Undoubtedly, Real Madrid is much closer to the goal thanks to the 3-1 they achieved in the first leg and the economic tranquility that they presume, unlike their rival, can work in their favor to reach the semis.