Why it’s Becoming Difficult to Root for Real Madrid

Xabi Alonso’s arrival at the Bernabéu has done little to temper Real Madrid’s campaign against referees, their antagonism towards La Liga and UEFA and their players’ increasing petulance.

Real Madrid players can often be found berating the referee following a call they disagree with. / Burak Akbulut/Anadolu/Getty Images

I fell in love with Real Madrid in 2002, arriving in the Spanish capital, an impressionable 7-year-old unaware of the significance of the club I would soon call my own.

Under manager Vicente del Bosque, Zinedine Zidane, Raúl, Roberto Carlos, Luís Figo, and Co. played mesmerizing football that inspired every kid in the city. Each game at the Bernabéu felt like a magical affair, and the Galacticos conquered La Liga before sacking del Bosque, selling Claude Makélélé and beginning a descent into mediocrity (by Madridista standards) that would last until the conquest of La Décima.

One season was enough to hook me. I have stood by the club ever since, even as I slowly realized that José Mourinho’s underhanded tactics, eyepokes and media manipulation were unbecoming of a club of Real Madrid’s stature, and worse, understanding that club president Florentino Pérez had appointed Mourinho knowing full well that he would toss the club's morals in the trash in the quest to topple Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona.

However, it is increasingly difficult to support Los Merengues as they wage war against referees, erode their own sense of señorio (class), show outward disdain for their own league and enable the entitlement of their star players.

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Player Petulance, Victim Complex and the War Against Referees

Ill discipline got the better of Real Madrid again in their home defeat to Celta Vigo. / Diego Souto/Getty Images

In the modern age, winning is everything at Real Madrid. At times, it feels as if the work ethic and class of Juanito, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Fernando Hierro and others who forged the club’s history are rapidly being forgotten. In their place, the club’s grandeur and its president have fostered ego and entitlement.

Real Madrid’s 2–0 home defeat to Celta Vigo on Dec. 7 was one of the latest examples of its players’ petulance. It was a visual demonstration of the notion that because these players wear the white shirt of Real Madrid, they are the best in the world and should be treated with deference.

As Los Blancos struggled to claw back a result, the Madrid players constantly encircled referee Alejandro Quintero González and berated him for his decisions. This is nothing new in professional soccer (although it shouldn’t be the norm), but it follows a pattern at Real Madrid over the past 12 to 18 months.

Fran García and Álvaro Carreras were sent off for tackles and protests made on the field. Endrick was sent off from the bench for his aggressive behavior towards the fourth official, while club captain Dani Carvajal criticized the referee in the tunnel postgame as tempers flared.

Real Madrid TV, the club’s in-house station, blamed the ongoing Negreira saga (the corruption investigation into Barcelona and José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation's Technical Committee of Referees) for the refereeing performance and the loss. As a result of the backlash, Quintero’s performance is being reviewed, and there is a chance he will be demoted to the second division.

Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger (left) was sent off in the Copa del Rey final for throwing an ice pack at the referee. / Burak Akbulut/Anadolu/Getty Images

During last season’s Copa del Rey final, Antonio Rüdiger infamously threw an ice pack at the referee as Los Blancos lost to rival Barcelona. Rüdiger received a six-match suspension for his actions and teammate Lucas Vázquez was also red-carded for his aggressive comments.

These actions came after Real Madrid evaded prematch press media duties and apparently threatened to boycott the match due to the refereeing appointment. The referee even gave a press conference—before the match—in which he wept as he recounted the harassment his child was receiving in school due to his father’s perceived errors or bias.

In October 2024, after learning Vinicius Jr. would not win that year’s Ballon d’Or (he finished second behind Rodri), the club took the unilateral decision to skip the awards ceremony. This, even though Carlo Ancelotti won Men’s Coach of the Year, and Real Madrid won Men’s Club of the Year.

Player and club entitlement has fostered a sense that they can get away with whatever they want. They can abuse referees, boycott award ceremonies and show protest on the field to no end. But the idea that they are untouchable is a stain on the club’s history and ethos.

Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez is the brains behind the club's modern day strategy. / Jean Catuffe/Getty Images

This idea of invincibility is being driven from the very top. Real Madrid TV is one of Perez’s many ways of communicating with the masses. For years, the club TV channel has done weekly previews of matches, analyzing the assigned referee’s “errors” or “missed calls” in previous Madrid games.

The channel is waging a clear communications campaign designed to put pressure on referees and generate favorable calls. What it’s really doing is driving division between Real Madrid, the refereeing committee and the league. Moreover, it is creating a crybaby narrative.

It used to be that Barcelona was the club that complained about a lack of fairness (perhaps correctly), that Madrid got all the beneficial decisions. This “Madriditis” was a crutch for the Culés for a long time, but now it is the refuge of Los Blancos. The club and a vast portion of its radicalized fan base perceive Real Madrid as the victim, despite being the most successful and highest revenue club in history.

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The Raul Asencio Case

Real Madrid is also dealing with delicate off-field problems. Youth academy product Raúl Asencio broke into the team under Ancelotti, filling in for the injured Éder Militão and David Alaba. What should be a heartwarming story about an academy boy finding his way into the first team is marred by disturbing allegations that he allegedly shared a sexual video of two women, one of whom allegedly was a minor, that three other Real Madrid Castilla players filmed and distributed.

Prosecutors have called for a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Asencio.

This is an incredibly delicate subject. All are innocent until proven guilty, but the fact that a case of this sensitivity and magnitude continues to hang over Real Madrid and that Asencio continues to play regularly damages the club’s reputation and calls into question how seriously the club is taking these allegations.

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Super League and La Liga

Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso has struggled to apply his principles to his players and the club as a whole. / Image Photo Agency/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Pérez clings to the idea of the European Super League that he tried to establish alongside the since-dismissed Juventus CEO Andrea Agnelli back in 2021. The entire concept of the Super League stands in opposition to fair competition and the pyramid that has underpinned soccer across Europe for generations.

Real Madrid remains the only club attached to the project. Pérez continues to push the club out onto an island that he believes will help it reach the next level of profitability and fame. Really, he is just isolating the club within the wider soccer ecosystem and eroding any last ounces of goodwill the club has across Europe.

Los Merengues’ leadership fights with La Liga at every turn, and are quickly becoming the antagonist in a league that they think themselves too good for, but are desperate to win each season.

I had hoped that Xabi Alonso, a man who effortlessly exudes the calm and courtesy ingrained in the club’s history, would be able to combat the worst characteristics infecting the club, but as he fights for results, he continues to cede ground to the players and the president.

It is a long-overdue realization, but Real Madrid is no longer the club I thought it was and want it to be. It has the players and manager to be a great side and embody its historical ethos, but there is something rotten at the core of the club that is making it hard to support.

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