Real Madrid are one of the most successful clubs in Europe. They have some of the best footballers in the world in their squad, and one of the legends of the game as their manager. And yet, despite all of this, the Los Blancos are still the target of an inordinate amount of vitriol from football fans around the world.
When a team wins as many trophies as Real Madrid does, jealousy is bound to get the better of most rival fans. But in the case of this club, sometimes, even the so-called Madridistas are found hurling abuse at the club.
Also read: 5 reasons fans hate Barcelona
Even neutrals and general football lovers from around the world view the Madrid-based club with scathing contempt and derision. Here, we take a look at some of the reasons why the club faces such hate, sometimes even from its own fans.
#5 Real Madrid boo-boys
Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Danilo – all of them have faced the wrath of their own fans in recent times. Over the years, the Real Madrid faithful have booed their own players and even legends.
It is one thing when fans criticise a player for bad performances, but players booed when they are performing well is unusual and not called for. Neutrals have for a long time been dismayed by the so-called die-hard fans of the club booing their own players.
Yes, fans of all football clubs have a lot of demands and they do show their ire, and whistling and jeering is part of the game. But jeering a player when he is going through a rough patch doesn’t in any way help the player or the club’s performance. What is expected of the fans is backing the player and bringing back his confidence; not bring hell to him!
Players like Ronaldo, Bale, and Casillas are superstars who have single-handedly won games for the Los Blancos and do not deserve to be jeered at any point of time.
This is also a reason why many players avoid a move to Real Madrid, and many why football lovers hate the club.
#4 Their 12th man: the Spanish press
The biased support by the Spanish press (read MARCA and AS) towards Madrid is just another thing that infuriates football fans. Every 50-50 decision that goes against the club makes the next morning’s headlines, every wrong move by a player of a rival club is blasted by the press.
One might argue that this is very much expected of a club of Real Madrid’s stature and it doesn’t influence the game directly. But one thing that it does is put pressure on the opposition and the match officials.
The performance of match officials when things go against the Los Blancos are criticised unfairly by these newspapers, who are supposed to present the news in a neutral and objective way. The ‘Real Madrid press’ also use their medium to pressurise clubs to sell their players to Real Madrid by publishing unverified rumours about a player’s transfer to Madrid.
There have also been instances when the Real Madrid hierarchy use the press to their advantage to push their agenda, which has incurred the wrath of football lovers.
#3 Diving, play-acting, fighting, head-butting – Real Madrid tactics of dirty footballers
Gravesen, Guti, Emerson, Fernando Hierro, Míchel Salgado, Pablo García, and Manolo Sanchís – Real Madrid’s history of housing some of the world’s dirtiest footballers definitely does not earn them any brownie points.
In fact, football fans around the world loathe such footballers, in turn hating the club that they play for. It is debatable whether the club has an affinity for these kinds of players or whether the players turn dirty after joining them.
These players jostle and fight on the football pitch, waste time and sometimes even play-act. They do not think twice about resorting to any method in order to win a match. Players like Pepe, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, and Cristiano Ronaldo among others, are known for their ‘unruly behaviour’ on the pitch.
One would struggle to find so many players in one team and it doesn’t seem like they are willing to abandon their precious history any time soon, though.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo
Nobody divides opinion quite like Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. Of course, he is brilliant on the pitch, running through opposition defences, scoring goals, notching up assists. But his arrogance has often irked football fans around the world.
And what makes it unbearable is that all the hate doesn’t seem to affect him at all. Ronaldo is, in fact, spurred on by all the hate and continues to score goals and win games for Real Madrid.
Probably the best footballer in the world at the moment, the Portuguese attacker is undoubtedly the talisman at the club. However, all the photo shoots with supermodels, holiday snaps and orange tan do not help get in the good books of his critics. Obnoxiously tapping in goals, claiming the goals of his own teammates, and celebrating as if he had won the World Cup, surely doesn’t help.
It is apparent that the superstar’s presence in the team is the primary reason for all the hate in recent years, especially from Lionel Messi fans.
#1 The rule of Florentino Perez: the Galactico era
Florentino Perez is currently serving his second term as the president of Real Madrid. He is widely considered as a “marmite” figure in the sport. You either love him (meh) or hate him – there is no middle ground. In the neutral football fans’ case, you hate him.
Most clubs make transfers to supplement their home-grown talent but the same cannot be said about Madrid. In fact, they are eager to throw astronomical amounts of money at quality players in an attempt to buy their way to trophies.
Now, an open chequebook will not guarantee success at all times. And, it is fair to say that the returns have not been well worth the investments. With the world’s economy taking a sudden downturn, the ‘Galactico era’ has somewhat calmed down. But Perez just doesn’t seem care – whether it is breaking the world record transfer fee or selling a club legend, he doesn’t think twice.
Real Madrid’s habit of selling off fan favourites in order to bring in new blood has infuriated their own fans in the past, let alone neutrals.
