Former academy teammate reveals shocking fact about Real Madrid manager Atletico Madrid

New Actual Madrid supervisor Alvaro Arbeloa will likely be sitting way more comfortably this week after his facet beat AS Monaco 6-1 within the Champions League. That mixed with Barcelona slipping up and Los Blancos decreasing the hole in La Liga to only a level are serving to to place the reminiscence of their Copa del Rey exit to Albacete within the background.

Since his very first press convention as Actual Madrid supervisor, Arbeloa has been eager to speak up the lore of Actual Madrid, espousing the greatness of the membership. He appears laser-focused on constructing unity and a tradition on the Bernabeu, and in addition instructed the gamers a narrative about that following their loss to Albacete.

Alvaro Arbeloa grew up an Atletico Madrid fan

Nevertheless he was not all the time so eager on Actual Madrid. Chatting with DAZN, Masterchef winner Eneko Fernandez de Garayalde spoke about his expertise sharing a dressing room with Arbeloa as an academy expertise at Actual Zaragoza.

“He’s a 12 months older than me, he performed on a group forward of me, however we did share coaching classes and some matches, and that’s the place I met him. It’s humorous that again then – I’m not going to reinvent the wheel – however he was an Atletico Madrid fan. I say I’m not going to reinvent the wheel as a result of we’ve all seen footage of him in that shirt (the Atleti one), and it’s one of many issues I keep in mind most.”

On the age of 18, Arbeloa moved to Actual Madrid, the place he would spent 5 years within the academy, earlier than spells at Deportivo La Coruna and Liverpool. Returning to Actual Madrid in 2009, Arbeloa spent an additional seven years on the Bernabeu as a senior gamers.

Eneko and his anecdotes about Arbeloa

“I do not uncover the gunpowder, it was from Atlético de Madrid” #ElPost ⚽ pic.twitter.com/ppCmi6CdLO

— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) January 18, 2026

Crossovers between Actual Madrid and their rivals

Arbeloa wouldn’t be the primary participant or coach to have ended up on the Bernabeu by the use of a rival, or regardless of supporting one in all them. Essentially the most high-profile fashionable examples of gamers swapping Barcelona for Actual Madrid are Ronaldo Nazario, and extra instantly, Luis Figo.

On high of that, Actual Madrid’s main Spanish goalscorer of their historical past, and a hailed expertise from La Fabrica, arrived from Atletico Madrid’s academy. Raul Gonzalez would go on to change into a logo of Actual Madrid.