The 2003–04 season was
Real Madrid CF
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
's 73rd season in
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
. This article lists all matches that the club played in the 2003–04 season, and also shows statistics of the club's players. The club played the season wearing their classic white home and teal blue away kits.
Season summary
In spite of the arduous pre-season, the team got off to a good start. They won the
Supercopa de España
The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...
against Mallorca with a 3–0 victory on 27 August in the second leg, avenging their loss to the same side in the
2002–03 Copa del Rey. By the time half of the season had passed, Madrid topped the league table and was still in contention for the
Copa del Rey
The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...
and
Champions League trophies. However, the team was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on away goals by
Monaco
Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
and finished as runners-up in the domestic cup, losing to
Zaragoza
Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
after extra time. They also lost their final five La Liga matches and finished in fourth place, which gave
Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
the title. It was the last time that Real Madrid finished below second place until the
2013–14 season, which brought a long-awaited ''
La Décima''.
Squad
Transfers
Winter
Pre-season
The team embarked on a summer tour in Asia, for 18 days, to cash in on the worldwide appeal of their new signing,
David Beckham
Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...
. It included exhibition matches in Beijing, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok, which alone earned the club €10 million. This was compared by popular contrary with the tour with the first visit of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
to the United States in 1964. Although lucrative and generating wide publicity, the preparation value of the Asia was questionable, considering that the long 2003–04 season which lay ahead. It was exhausting for the players, due to endless rounds of publicity engagements and restrictions on the players' freedom of movement (due to the team hotel being besieged by fans). Most players admitted that they would have preferred a low-profile training camp and/or to have been home in Spain for the pre-season, instead of playing meaningless show matches against low quality opponents. The Asia tour has been said to have catered more to the needs of the club's marketing than to its players' preparations.
Pre-season
Results
2003 Supercopa de España
La Liga
Classification
Results by round
Matches
Copa del Rey
Round of 64
Round of 32
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
UEFA Champions League
Group stage
Knockout phase
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Statistics
Players statistics
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:2003-04 Real Madrid CF season
Spanish football clubs 2003–04 season
Real Madrid CF seasons
2003 in the Community of Madrid
2004 in the Community of Madrid