'A dream come true': City welcomes international soccer power

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Real Madrid.

A day after touching down in Salt Lake City, the most successful soccer club in European history made its official entrance here Tuesday. Madrid held two practices at Rice-Eccles Stadium — one in the morning and one at night — as part of its altitude-training week and participated in a press conference at the Grand America Hotel.

"What a week of soccer we are about to have in Salt Lake City," RSL owner Dave Checketts said at the press conference, "and how pleased I am to welcome to Salt Lake the members of Real Madrid. . . . It really is a dream come true."

Real Salt Lake will meet Real Madrid in an exhibition game Saturday evening. A handful of tickets remain available for the contest, which begins at 7:30 p.m.

"We want to thank everybody for the warm welcome we've had here in Salt Lake City," Real Madrid captain Raul Gonzalez said. "We understand that there have been a lot of tickets sold for this game, and we expect a sellout for this game."

Madrid will be in Seattle for an exhibition with D.C. United tonight. It will then return to Salt Lake to train for two days before taking on RSL.

Checketts' vision for the friendly match began when he first visited Real Madrid's facilities. Nearly 24 months later, he has delivered one of the biggest sports teams on the planet to this city.

"They're an institution, not just in Madrid but throughout Europe," said Checketts. "They are feared. They are loathed.

They are respected. They are like the Yankees are here. They manage to get just about everybody they want. So there's a fair amount of the soccer world that cheers for them to lose."

Real Madrid's roster is headlined by international superstar David Beckham, but it's also filled with many other stars.

Like the Yankees, Real Madrid has an illustrious history. Madrid has won the Champions League — Europe's version of the Super Bowl — a record nine times. It has also won 29 Spanish League titles and 17 Spanish Cup titles.

"We take great pride in wearing a Real Madrid shirt," said Gonzalez, who is the all-time leading scorer in Spanish National Team history. "It's a very important institution, (because) of the history of the club and the importance of the club. It's also a great pride to play in the Santiago Bernabeu, which is a phenomenal facility. And the crowds there and the atmosphere there is second to none. And when the team travels to places such as Salt Lake City, we are received very well."

Despite its illustrious history, things haven't gone well lately. Since winning its last major trophy in 2003, Madrid's massive throng of fans has endured numerous coaching changes and a number of frustrations.

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