Given the history and aura of a club like Real Madrid, it's not surprising when we see players publicly talking about their desires to play for Los Blancos. Real is a dream club for many players growing up, with many idolizing Cristiano Ronaldo and hoping to emulate parts of his career by pulling on the famous all-white kit.
Players such as Eden Hazard, Kylian Mbappé, and Endrick, to name a few in recent history, publicly voiced their admiration for Ronaldo and their desire to play for Los Blancos, ultimately achieving their goal of signing for their dream club.
We've also seen retired players say in interviews that they always wanted to play for Real but never had the opportunity. One of these players is Kevin-Prince Boateng. The former Ghana international was a massive Madridista growing up and played all over the world during his career, but never got his dream move to the Bernabeu. However, in 2019, he did get a loan move to Barcelona, and he recently revealed the lengths the club goes to in order to cover up any support of their El Clasico rivals.
Boateng admits he had to hide Madrid and Ronaldo admiration
Boateng revealed during an appearance on UNSCRIPTED by Josh Mansour that he was forced to lie about his Madrid fandom during his introductory press conference with Barca to play for the club. The attacker went on to say:
"My favourite team has always been Real Madrid and I thought Cristiano Ronaldo was the best player in the world...Kevin Prince Boateng
But to play for Barcelona I had to lie in the press conference, otherwise it was impossible to play."
Boateng went on to detail that when he was at Las Palmas, he always wanted to play for Real, who he believed was the best club in the world, and thought Ronaldo was the best player in the world. But, two years later, when he signed for Barca, they told him he had to say the Blaugrana are the best club in the world and Lionel Messi is the best player, or else he couldn't play.
This isn't the first case of a former Barca player being pressurized into speaking negatively of Los Blancos when they play for the El Clasico giants, but then once they leave for a new club, they talk reveal the truth.
Recently, former Barca center-back Inigo Martinez, who now plays with Ronaldo at Al Nassr, praised Vinicius Junior for who he is and gave him his flowers, something he was forbidden from doing while at Camp Nou.
Barca and Real have been bitter rivals since the dawn of time, but having players lie about their feelings toward Los Merengues is pitiful. Jose Mourinho once said Barca are always thinking about Real more than Real think about Barca, and it seems Boateng just reaffirmed this point even more.