Carlos: We were too crazy for comfort at the Bernabeu

Real Madrid and Brazil icon Roberto Carlos has lifted the lid on life as a Galactico, painting a picture of jet setting and player-power at the heart of the most notorious era at any club in modern football.

The full-back was in a team littered with star talent but which in the end produced very little of substance to show for it, with just three La Liga titles and one solitary Champions League title picked up between 2000 and 2007 despite the massive spending power.

Despite a lack of success on the pitch, though, Carlos reveals that the players – including the likes of Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham – enjoyed a lifestyle that few footballers had ever experienced before.

‘Today when I’m looking back I think; how is it possible that we got away with so much craziness?’ he told AS.

‘After every game it was private jets left, right and centre. We’d meet up at the private terminal at Barajas and Beckham would be off god knows where, Figo and Zidane would be off somewhere or other, Ronaldo and me… and we always had to train the day after tomorrow.

‘I used to pray for Saturday fixtures so I could go to the Formula 1 on Sunday. It was private jets all over the place. It was crazy.’

Another story told by Carlos demonstrates the power held by the players at that time during the presidential reign of Florentino Perez. Vanderlei Luxemburgo was brought in to coach Real Madrid at the start of the 2004 season.

However, after rubbing players up the wrong way, he was quickly dismissed, as Carlos explains.

‘In the second game of the league season we had the custom of leaving our bags in the hotel and going for a beer or a wine before dinner.

‘There were always two bottles of wine on the table. Ronaldo and me told him [Luxemburgo]: “Professor, people here have their habits, you’ll see what they are, but don’t try to change them. Don’t take the wine off the table or stop the beers before dinner or you’ll find yourself with a problem.”