20 years since the heist of the century

A transfer shook the world of football in Europe in 2000. During the summer, there was no talk of anything else but the election of the president of Real Madrid and the departure of Luis Figo from Barcelona to the eternal rival.

Nobody believed that the Barcelona captain would ever make the move, but his agent's greed, his lack of respect for the shield and a clumsy board pushed the Portuguese to leave to Real Madrid.

Back in July 2000, Florentino Pérez had the difficult task of overtaking the presidency from the recently deceased Lorenzo Sanz in the elections. Sanz had come to the polls as the favourite, having led Real Madrid to the top of Europe after many decades of drought.

The then-candidate for the presidency made a deal with Figo's agent, Jose Veiga, for the player to sign for Real Madrid.

The Portuguese thought that Florentino Pérez was not going to win the elections and used this pre-contract to demand a salary increase from Barcelona. In the end, things didn't work out for Figo as he had hoped and, as Barça didn't want to pay the compensation for the agreement between Veiga and Florentino, the winger had to go to Real Madrid.

In his presentation, it was clear that Figo was not comfortable. He had gone from being an idol in Barcelona and suffering from an exacerbated hatred in Madrid to exactly the opposite. It didn't take long for him to become the bad guy for Barcelona.

His name erased in kits, jeering in his first visit to the Camp Nou, a piglet flying in the second... the fans of his former team helped the conversion of the Portuguese in Madrid.

The rest is history. Barcelona squandered the Portuguese's clause money on transfers that brought nothing and did not wake up until the arrival of Laporta, while Figo continued to win titles in Madrid, although not as many as he would have liked.

He won the Champions that had resisted him for so long in the Camp Nou, and also a European Supercup, two Spanish ones, one Intercontinental and two LaLiga titles. In total, seven titles, the same number of titles than in Barcelona, despite Catalan fans not keeping him in their memory.

Although he arrived late at Inter, it was at the Italian club where, with eight trophies, he won more championships in his entire career. He was decisive in the 'nerazzurro' team before the arrival of his compatriot José Mourinho, whom he helped to conquer the Camp Nou and win the Champions League in 2010.