Add Up Articles Directory | Free Articals | New Articles Daily | European soccer registered two massive upsets

Within a few hours Saturday evening, European football has two mass disturbances, those who recorded the conventional wisdom about the gap between rich and poor challenge.

Barcelona is the master of the league and the backbone of the Spanish team won the World Cup, next to Leo Messi, arguably the best player in the world. Hosted make Hercules, a club from the port of Alicante at a comeback in the top flight after 13 years in the wilderness. And Saturday was the National Day of Catalonia, the Catalan equivalent of the Fourth of July, when the sky nationalism and regionalism rather high.

AC Milan traveled to Cesena, a tiny club celebrating its first home game back in Serie A after 19 years away, looking to showcase its two most recent star signings: Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho.With limited transfer budgets and the knowledge that mistakes can be deadly, newly-promoted clubs basically have one shot to get it right. This is especially true for teams like Hercules and Cesena whose "natural" level is probably the second tier, unlike what are known as yo-yo clubs, who regularly move up and down between the top two divisions.

Hercules spent around $7 million in the summer. Against Barcelona, newcomers comprised six of the starting 11. More than half the budget went on securing the Paraguayan striker Nelson Haedo Valdez, who scored both goals. Mr. Valdez spent much of his career in Germany's Bundesliga, most recently as an occasional starter for Borussia Dortmund.David Trezeguet, who helped France win the World Cup back in 1998, was perhaps the most famous pick-up. The fact that Mr. Trezeguet's wife is from Alicante also played a part in convincing him to spurn offers from bigger clubs.

Dutch utility player Royston Drenthe was another such gamble. Real Madrid bought him for $19 million in the summer of 2007, shortly after he turned 20.Cesena also did its bit of wheeling and dealing, adding no fewer than 18 players to its squad. The club's total outlay on players this year – between net transfer spending and salaries – is less than $20 million, most of which will be covered by the increase in TV revenue now that Cesena is in the top flight.

Saturday disorders may be just blips, but they do suggest that with a little creativity and boldness, the top-flight newcomers on shoestring budgets can compete with the greats. And they can do so without being doomed to financial distress in the future.