"Messi called me f*cking black man"

Royston Drenthe, a well-known La Liga and Real Madrid veteran, was the latest guest to appear on 'The Wild Project', Jordi Wild's podcast, to talk at length about his time at La Liga and in Spanish football, as well as his nightlife.

Right from the start, the Dutchman, who played for the Madrid side between 2007 and 2011, explained what led him to opt for the 'Merengue' offer to the detriment of teams like Barca and Chelsea: "Before signing for Real Madrid, Barcelona wanted me, also Chelsea, but they wanted me to stay at Feyenoord for a year and I wanted to leave directly, so I decided that I preferred to go to Real Madrid because, although almost all my family was Barcelona – because of Ronaldinho, because in Holland they follow Barcelona a lot – Ronaldo was still playing for Madrid and he was still a king. I wanted to play where Beckham, Ronaldo and Zidane had been. In Holland they call me a legend just for having played for Real Madrid. That’s why I rejected Barcelona, because I knew that Real Madrid was a historic club".

On the other hand, Drenthe hit out at Mourinho, one of the culprits of his departure in the summer of 2011: “In the pre-season in Los Angeles, me and Marcelo were playing. Marcelo was injured and I had to play the whole pre-season. Everything went well. I don’t know why they went to sign Fabio Coentrão. Mourinho told me: ‘If you train like this, you don’t have to worry.’ Everything was fine. But in the last three days of the camp, Valdano came and told me that it was better if I left. It wasn’t the coach, it was Valdano. The coach didn’t have the balls to tell me. He told me that it had nothing to do with him. That stage ended in a sad way but I have a good memory because I learned a lot."

A year earlier, in 2010, the Dutchman was loaned to Hercules for one season. During his time with the Alicante team, the former player had a confrontation with Messi: “In a match against Barça, Leo called me a f*cking black man. Afterwards, he told me that Argentine players called each other 'negro de mierd*. For them it was a normal thing, for example they said it to Garay and he didn't mind, but you have to understand that a guy like me didn't like it. It's not the same if my friends said it to me in training or if a rival said it to me. After that we didn't talk about it again, the subject went away. I have a lot of respect for him, because he was one of the best players in the world.

 

February 27, 2025