Iād be careful not to mix up a lot of things here. Stadium crowd, local crowd, tourist crowd, social media, media as in journalists, etc.
I canāt pretend I know every single aspect of that at Real Madrid (even if I do have a friend who is Spanish, a Madrid local, a Real fan, grew up close to the Bernabeu and lives in Croatia in the last few years).
I know their media is incredibly hands on with the tiniest of details (also pretty knowledgeable, it goes together with the huge influence on football in the last few decades, they literally pissed on football rivals on all levels, club and country).
That the Bernabeu can be pretty merciless at times, they had some poor moments like that goodbye with Raul as an example (but I blame the club more for that, there was no proper goodbye?!).
Pretty sure that itās not all that terrible.
They are the worldās biggest club so naturally the % (total, both in real life or online) of idiots increases.
My point is that Iāve read so much about this toxic aspect, yet I keep seeing most (and the best) players willing to go there, saying things like āReal is the only place Iād leave X forā, etc. And succeeding, even with the bad aspects that can come with it. Do they look to me like they donāt enjoy themselves the majority of the time? No. They get on with it. Big players at a big club.
I think a lot of us fans would be surprised to realize how players care less about the things that a lot of us care about. What do they want to do mainly (though not only!)? Improve towards the best teams, win and earn the most money as possible. Not particularly in that order. And Real wins. A lot. And yes, itās also a glamorous place and it sells.
I donāt have to be a fan of it or even like it to easily recognize it.
Iām not talking about struggling players who werenāt good enough and/or couldnāt handle the pressure of that stage. I donāt know, a Gravesen or whoever.
I also donāt think the fact that Trent knows only one club so far, had a fatherly figure as his most influential coach so farā¦ plays such a part. What does that have to do with anything? Is he homesick like Jesus Navas? I donāt think so.
Itās more of a feeling of satisfaction that a portion of Liverpool fans would get if Trent fails or does a bit average there.
Iām not saying itās impossible, just that it rarely happens there with good players unless itās a total tactical stupidity (like their midfield once in the post-Makelele era when they fielded Figo-Beckham-Guti-Zidane). Bringing Trent into this Real side is nothing too wild. They need a RB, heās one of the best out there and they have the tools to make it function.
They can make mistakes even these days, mistakes are eternal, but they have learned a lot from that time. Funny, but their biggest rivals taught them (and still do) some big lessons how a team should work.
