The Champions League final was held at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and provided ample evidence of the abject failure of the Spanish side's transfer policy.
There were no fewer than five players on display, four of them representing Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan, who had previously plied their trade at Real Madrid. Walter Samuel, Esteban Cambiasso, Wesley Sneijder and Samuel Eto'o, as well as Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben, had all been tried, tested and deemed surplus to requirements at Madrid.
Yet these six found themselves participating in the Champions League final at the end of a season which Real Madrid's current collection of Galacticos ended empty-handed.
For too many years reputation has been valued higher than ability by Real Madrid. Instead of investing in personnel who will fit into a specific formation or system, Real Madrid have acquired a collection of footballing status symbols with scant regard to which position they play, or whether they will work well as a footballing unit.
As a result the club now has an enormous collection of unnecessarily expensive defensive midfielders such as Xavi Alonso, Mahamadou Diarra, Lassana Diarra and Fernando Gago. These four cost the club almost 100 Million Euros while another outstanding defensive midfielder, Esteban Cambiasso, was allowed to leave for Inter on a free transfer.
Not surprisingly, given the Galactico culture which has become inherent in their transfer policy, Real Madrid just can't seem to stop signing attacking players. In recent years Julio Baptista, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Antonio Cassano, Karim Benzema, Gonzales Higuain, Rafael van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo have all been acquired at enormous expense.
Half of these ten expensive acquisitions were released for significantly less money than they were signed for, which even for a club of Real Madrid's financial stature represents seriously bad business.
Had Sneijder and Robben not already been sold by Real Madrid, the club would probably be casting covetous glances in the direction of these two patently outstanding wingers. Both have had the sort of season which would normally have their former club reaching for the cheque book.
Meanwhile Real Madrid seem uncomfortable having Gonzalo Higuain as their main striker. The ever improving Argentinian might have scored 27 goals this season but he is yet to be rewarded with a new contract amidst the sneaky suspicion that he is just not Galactico enough to lead the line for Real Madrid. Higuain's problem is that his ability currently outweighs his reputation.
Kaka is an outstanding player who was signed for an exorbitant cost but he simply does not fit into the Real Madrid system. The Brazilian is at his best when he is playing behind the strikers in a team which revolves around him but at Madrid he has often found himself forced to play out wide.
He also plays a very similar role to Raul, Real Madrid's talisman who has been effectively sidelined by the arrival of the latest batch of Galacticos. The Real Madrid captain is still only 32 years old and is entitled to feel that the club where he has spent his entire career have been far too quick to reach for the chequebook to replace him.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been a huge success and, if anyone can make 94 Million Euros seem like good value for money it is the mercurial Portugese winger. Unlike Kaka he is extremely versatile and can play on either wing, just behind the strikers or even up front.
The fact that Ronaldo and the out of favour Roysten Drenthe are now the only wingers on the entire Real Madrid squad makes a mockery of the club's transfer policy. Both Robben and Sneijder would have been far more effective for Real Madrid than Kaka has been this season but it seems the club would rather sign Galacticos and play them out of position then try and make the most of the existing talent at their disposal.
Mourinho first won the Champions League with lowly Porto and is a manager who has made a career out of constructing teams who are greater than the sum of their parts. Real Madrid's recent history has been that of a team who have struggled to be as good collectively as they are individually.
As such Mourinho is an obvious choice but he will be faced with a challenge unlike any he has ever faced in his career. The majority of the Inter team which faced Bayern Munich were Mourinho signings but as Real Madrid manager it will take him much longer to bring in his own personnel.
The current members of the Real Madrid squad cost so much money to acquire that it is going to be almost impossible to get rid of them. The club will be extremely reluctant to face the humiliating prospect of releasing the likes of Benzema and Kaka for a fraction of the price they recently paid for them.
While Mourinho will probably be handed a significant transfer budget he will have little choice when it comes to selecting certain players. He will be expected to find a formation which can fit Benzema, Kaka, Ronaldo and Alonso, and get the best out of them. Having four players of this quality forced upon him is no great imposition but it will severely restrict the extent to which Mourinho is able to work with players of his preference.
Mourinho's teams tend to be extremely functional and they are not always easy on the eye. What they might lack in style they more than make up for in success, something which Real Madrid are currently lacking.
If there is any man capable of sorting out the mess that the Galactico era has left Real Madrid in it is Jose Mourinho. It will be a challenge unlike any he has previously faced and it will be intriguing to see how the Portugese tactician approaches it.
James Goyder is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, the open source sports network.
