REAL PRESSURE DESPITE STAR-STUDDED LINEUP, REAL MADRID DESPERATE TO WIN.

Byline: Scott French Staff Writer

CARSON - There hasn't existed as potent a lineup since ``Murderer's Row'' nearly 80 years ago, but there's one vast difference: The New York Yankees were champions.

Real Madrid possesses a Who's Who of world soccer stars - Beckham! Ronaldo! Zidane! - but it hasn't captured a trophy in two seasons, a virtual eternity for a club of its stature, and the desperation is starting to show.

As the Spanish superpower - which plays the Galaxy tonight at Home Depot Center - treks across the United States and to Asia, a world tour designed to promote the Real brand as much as prepare the team for the upcoming season, there is enormous expectation to be the best.

With a roster that features David Beckham, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Michael Owen, Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo and others as gifted if not as celebrated - and possible acquisitions include Brazilians Robinho and Adriano - nothing short of greatness is tolerated.

``Our fans are very demanding,'' says Emilio Butragueno, a former star striker for Real and Spain's national team who serves as a club vice president and director of sport. ``They are used to seeing great players and great performances. When we don't do it, we're in trouble. You have to be at your peak at all times, on and off the field.

``It's a great honor to work for this club, but it's not so easy because there is a lot of pressure.''

The demand has chewed up coaches - four departed in seven months before former Brazilian national team boss Vanderlei Luxemburgo took charge last December - and placed at risk Florintino Perez's five-year tenure as president of the 85,000-member social and sports club.

Winning major titles has long been the end-all, be-all for the most successful club in soccer history, more so after all the euros - more than 200 million (nearly $250 million in U.S. dollars) - Perez doled out in assembling his all-star team. He was first elected in July 2000, two months after Real won its eighth European title, and quickly lured Portuguese star Figo from hated rival Barcelona for $56 million, fulfilling a campaign promise.

French playmaker Zidane - chosen the greatest European player of all-time in two recent polls - came aboard a year later, a record $66 million purchase from Italian giant Juventus, and Real responded by winning its record ninth European crown in May 2002.

Ronaldo, the great Brazilian forward, arrived three months later ($44 million from Inter Milan) and English superstar Beckham ($30 million from Manchester United) a year after that.

Since the Spanish title in 2002-03, the club has won nothing.

``I've been here a season, and we didn't win anything,'' said Owen, who arrived a year ago on a $14 million transfer from Liverpool. ``They've gone two seasons without anything. Let's hope it's not three. I don't think it will be allowed to be three seasons.

``The pressure is really on. Real Madrid has to win something - even the (Spanish) cup is not enough to the people of Madrid. It has to be the European Cup (Champions League) or (Spanish) league, preferably both.''

Real (pronounced RAY-al), which has won a record 29 Spanish titles, enjoys a colorful history. Its roots extend into the 19th century, but the current club was founded in 1902 and took its ``royal'' moniker when King Alfonso XIII became a patron in 1920. The club won its first national title in 1932, in the Spanish League's fourth season, and transformed into a giant under favor from Franco's fascist regime and the arrival of Santiago Bernabeu, who began a dynamic, 32-year reign as president in 1943.

The club, led first by Argentine-born striker Alfredo Di Stefano and then by Hungarian Ferenc Puskas, won 12 Spanish championships in a 16-season span, through 1969, while capturing six European Cup titles, including the first five.

Real won five of six league titles in 1975-80 and, behind Butragueno and Mexican star Hugo Sanchez, five in a row (and two UEFA Cup crowns) in 1986-90. Success since 2000 followed a decade of relative drought, and the absence of trophies the past two seasons has fans and media - and some administrators - fearful of further famine.

In this era of globalization, championships quickly are becoming a means to an end, and without the means, the end becomes uncertain. Perez, whose greatest achievement as president has been wiping out debt of $327 million and increasing revenues to record levels, last month declared Real Madrid's income, gained primarily through merchandising, as No. 1 on the planet.

Deloitte, a consulting group, ranked Manchester United in the top spot in 2003-04, the eighth year in a row. Real Madrid, with revenues nearing $270 million, was No. 2.

This tour, which hits Beijing, Tokyo and Bangkok after L.A., is expected to net Real $25.6 million. The bigger payoff, officials note, is brand exposure.

``We are just starting here in the United States, and we are looking forward to starting very strong,'' said Butragueno, who served a marketing internship with the Dodgers - and took classes at UCLA - in the late '90s. ``It is why we consider this trip so important. ... ``Now we are here to set a relationship with the fans - that is our main purpose.''

Scott French, [phone]

scott.french(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

Real Madrid's David Beckham, center, boards a bus with his teammates after signing autographs for fans in Marina del Rey.

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

Box:

(1) GALAXY vs. REAL MADRID

- Scott French

(2) REAL MADRID