Ivan Zamorano, Hierro & Spanish La Liga mid 90s - mid 2000s?

Just read about this player, very underrated and perhaps one of the forgotten greats? Reading his wiki and watching Youtube and u can see he was quite special! Those who have watched football back in the mid 90s, what do u think about him?

One more points is that seeing Hierro's stats, he was a midfielder/defender and I remember watching ihm, but mostly getting owned by Barca players in the latter 90s So I was shocked to see his goal stats which is around 1 in 4 games, that a lot better than some strikers! Not wonder hes so highly rated

Also, I am trying to read up again more the mid 90s to mid 2000s mainly about the Spainish La Liga. I only watched football on and off then, and knew Barca dominated 2 years 97-99, and Real on and off from 00-04, in between, Valencia and Deportivo and Celta did well.... I wonder though why did Barca struggle for so long during that time? I knew Figo going to Real didnt help, and why did Barca actually let their rival able to buy him? Purely on money basis? For Figo himself Im sure it was, and rightly hated by fans for choosing to transfer across at his peak at Barca like that...

I also know Real's Galaticos Era actually were more disappointing then satisfying, becos they didnt really dominate despite Barca's struggle during this time. But why was the reason apart from what I gathered - bad decisions by Perez to fire Del Bosque, selling Makelele, and just too many stars cant gel into an effective unit, any other reasons?

Thanks and looking forward to ur inputs

Zamorano was an absolute beast
was remembered well for that hattrick he scored against Barca in the 5-0
and Barca never "dominated" Madrid during the late 90s
i would say more of the opposite
like Madrid had a very successful run of leagues and UCLs, winning in 98, 2000 and 2002
i would agree though that Galactico policy did have a detrimental effect but that was during the mid 2000s
during the nineties, Madrid bought brilliant and solid players
our late nineties team was probably one of the best we have ever had due to the solid base, of youth products like Raul, Guti, Iker, Chendo, Sanchis( the last 2 were in the latter part of their career), Spanish players like Hierro, Campo, Helguera, Salgado, Morientes, Karanka and co. and integration of superb and hard working foreign talents like Steve Mcmanaman, Clarence Seedorf, the amazing absolute legend Fernando Redondo, and Roberto Carlos
those were really the days and I kinda feel that was something Barca took up when they dominated during the Ronaldinho years later

When Baggio arrived at Inter he took fat Ronaldo's 10,and Ronado took Zamorano's 9.Zamorano was butthurt for giving up number nine but he wanted to keep being the number 9 so...

The Galacticos ultimately failed because Perez went retarded with his buying and his selling/sacking (VDB, Makalele, Hierro) and because the coaches eneded up with too little control, a trend which prevailed up until Mou's appointment to an extent. Still, for some periods, we played some sexy football and that era made me fall in love with Real Madrid.

Thx for that guys, I have read more since I made the thread

Apparently, Zamorano were made to wear a shirt citing 8-1 becos his no. 9 shirt were taken as mentioned loool?

punkfusion1992 Im glad u mentioned Mcmanaman...since he is my favourite player and I started watching him at Liverpool but very little of him when he was at Real.... from what I just read up, he was very popular, but Perez stupidly minimised him when he took over which was a shame! He stayed and fought for a few more years despite that and still managed to do pretty well overall.... seems like Perez treated many unfairly and just focused on his stars.... his comments on Makelele was so funny, the man knows nothing of football!!!

Although it seems now Mourinho has much more control and Perez may have learnt his lesson (or not), otherwise Real will just not be sustainably successful again.

Also, I happened to watch Barca during the Rivaldo and Figo times of 97-99 which they won the titles, and yes I do know Real won the CL during that...too bad I didnt watch that Ronaldo's season though, I would have had the pleasure of watching and alien scoring what was it 49 goals in 47 games? Crazy!

And as good as Zamorano looks, he was also phrased out...seems like players dont last that long back then! Not like some today...