You often wonder if there is actually animosity between the players of rival clubs, or if they just play to the crowd when derby day comes along.
Barcelona and Real Madrid have a history of trying to outdo each other and you have to think they also take delight in seeing their rival be humiliated, so Bayern’s victory over Barcelona would’ve went down well in Madrid.
The most comparable situation was when Germany demolished Brazil in the World Cup in 2014, so Toni Kroos does have some experience of being on the winning side in this scenario.
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A report from Today NG looked at some of his comments following Bayern’s crushing defeat of Barcelona, and it’s fair to say that the Real fans will enjoy hearing about this:
“I can’t recall everything, but you can imagine that there was no pain. There was the occasional malicious celebration.”
“People were running up and down in front of my room and screaming. I didn’t see it, but there must be other players (who watched). Everybody lives it that way here.”
That report also confirms that they had similar feelings when Barca threw away a sizeable lead against Roma in 2018, and you can imagine it was probably the same when Liverpool came back last year too.
It’s a petty thing that might not mean much, but as a fan you want to know that the players have bought into the culture of your club, and that seems to be the case with Real Madrid.