The reason for Real Madrid’s dominance over the decades is because our club has always had the best players – many of whom have found the fans’ adoration and blessing in whatever they’ve done. But, there have also been a few ‘rotten apples’ whose lack of dedication has found the supporters’ wrath. Tribuna.com looks at 4 players who never really got along with Madrid fans.
Gareth Bale: At first, Gareth Bale’s relationship with Real Madrid seemed like the perfect love story. He played prominent roles in the 2014 and 2018 Champions League victories, scoring a stunner against Liverpool in the latter. But, since then, it’s all gone downhill.
The Welshman is nowhere near as effective or impactful as he was and his poor performances forced Madrid to invest in Eden Hazard. His recent antics on the bench, playing golf and anti-Madrid celebrations with Wales have turned the fans against him. A reason why he doesn’t play much often is that the fans don’t want to see him and even though Bale doesn’t want to leave, everyone would love him to go away.
Emerson: Emerson arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu with a solid reputation and was thought to be Madrid’s midfield general. But, the Brazilian wasn’t the uncompromising defensive midfielder everyone thought him to be. He was part of the La Liga-title winning side in the 2006/07 season, but was too error-prone to be likened by fans. To think that a similar player in Casemiro has become such a fan-favourite, and yet Emerson left a completely different memory.
Angel Di Maria: The stylish Argentinian was a real firecracker in the final third for Madrid, often pulling off creative stuff nobody else could even imagine. But at times his football was too electric, vertical and fast for his own good – causing Di Maria to collide with defenders too much and lose the ball too often.
Due to this, at times he found a lot of criticism from Madrid fans for trying too much. He was one of Madrid’s best players in his last few years before sealing a big-money move to Manchester United which didn’t help the Madridistas trust in his faithfulness either.
Danilo: After watching Casemiro excel at FC Porto, Madrid signed Danilo in 2015 hoping for more competition at right-back. But, the Brazilian just couldn’t match up to the standards put in by Dani Carvajal. He struggled defensively and wasn’t too good going forward either, with his mediocrity not helping his reputation with the fans. He was sold to Manchester City in 2015 for a decent amount and nobody was sad to see him go!
