His passage through Real Madrid It was fleeting, but it is still remembered today. Thomas Gravesen reached the white ranks in the winter market 2005in January, exactly. He was tough, powerful, one of those players that when you see them coming you move away. It was like a grenade about to explode, like a time bomb, like a boiling hotbed that was rising in temperature as the minutes passed. His career wearing the white shirt lasted only one season, but his essence is still alive at the Santiago Bernabéu. After leaving the Spanish capital he went for a season to Celticanother to Everton and hung up his boots. Since then he has been lost.
The year was running 2004the Danish team was immersed in the Euro Cupand Gravesen and his dance partner in the midfield, Toftingrecorded an impeccable performance. Their names resonated throughout the European continent. There was no one who did not know about the reputation of the two footballers. Real Madrid was one of the teams that set their sights on them. He needed a player with such characteristics, someone to fill the gap that Makelelé had left and during the winter market negotiations began to bring the Danish star, who at that time was playing for Everton, to the Spanish capital. After making the signing official, rumors began to spread that the whites had got the wrong player and the one they really wanted was Lee Carsley. Carsley himself assured that they were very similar, but Gravesen was better.
In January 2005, Gravesen became the new wall of the Santiago Bernabéu. The midfielder did not take long to win the affection of the white fans, despite the fact that Real Madrid at that time had the generation of The Galactics. Ronaldo, Beckham, Roberto Carlos, Zidane, Casillas and Figo reigned in the locker room, but his madness on and off the field, his gestures and his sudden movements made Gravesen an icon of the white temple.
He soon earned a long list of nicknames: ‘the ogre’, ‘Shrek’ or ‘mad dog’were some of them. His signing for Real Madrid entailed a large sum of money, a relatively new situation for the Dane, who decided to take a drastic measure: look for another job. The footballer needed to stay busy to avoid spending everything that came into his bank account: “I need to know that the alarm clock goes off in the morning, otherwise I will never go to bed.””, he confessed on one occasion. This extra work kept him sane in his own way, although many colleagues suffered his comings and goings. His historical anger with Zidane is still remembered, the indications to Guti and Sergio Ramos, which far from provoking their anger, only led to laughter. That was his character.
January 15, 2006 is a date burned into the Santiago Bernabéu. That day the Gravensinhaone of the best dribbles in history, to which today the logic still cannot be found. A cut in which the Dane’s knee was endangered. The play began with an impeccable roulette of ZidaneGravesen took control of the ball to perform an unprecedented move to date: he kneeled on the ground to end up threatening his rival. Many might think that he was going to make an entrance and regret it, others that it was a mistake, but the truth is that the action turned out perfectly. That day a new dribble was born, to which its author gave its name.
Quality details were not the only thing Gravesen left on the pitch. During training, the Dane got angry with Ronaldo. The situation was such that he even shook the Brazilian’s chest, threw him to the grass and when he got up he hit him. headbutt that broke a tooth. These are the performances that characterized the midfielder, those that enveloped him in an aura of madness and, however, made him one of the most beloved footballers.
In 2006 he ended his career as a Real Madrid player to join the ranks of Celtic, where he spent a year; and then to Everton, where he spent another season, before hanging up his boots and ending his career as a footballer. From that moment on, Gravesen decided to make a 180-degree turn in his life and moved his residence to Las Vegas, which removed him from the public sphere. From football he made the leap to investments, where he managed to earn 100 million eurosalthough later lost 61 million playing poker. The spotlight once again fell on him during that time, since he became a great lover of casinos. Now, at 47 years old, he has decided to move away from that life and refocus his head on the world of football as a commentator and match analyst.