Steve McManaman became just the second Englishman to join Real Madrid when he signed for the Spanish giants in 1999, but the former Liverpool midfielder admits he found it “weird” at first
A Liverpool icon revealed he felt like a “fraud” during his time at Real Madrid – despite racking up over 150 appearances and bagging six major honours.
Steve McManaman, who celebrated his 54th birthday this week, became only the second Englishman to join Los Blancos when he made the switch from boyhood team Liverpool in 1999.
He clinched the Champions League in his debut season in the Spanish capital, netting his team’s second strike in a 3-0 triumph over Valencia in the final. However, during the post-match festivities, the Bootle-born star felt somewhat out of his depth.
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Speaking on the We Are Liverpool Podcast, McManaman admitted: “I knew what it meant to play for Liverpool… I didn’t understand the complexities [of playing for Real Madrid],” reports the Mirror.
“When I played for Madrid, a lot of the Spanish language and the Spanish newspapers, I didn’t really take much from it, because I couldn’t understand the language.”
The midfielder recalled the awkward moment after their European triumph: “I remember we’d just won the Champions League and I’d only been at the club 10 months, and the lads were in the dressing room singing Spanish songs and lifting the president up in the air.”
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McManaman confessed: “I [joined in], but I just felt I was a bit of a fraud. I did. Because they’re all singing these Spanish songs and I just thought to myself, ‘This is just weird’.”
Rather than join the celebrations, he made a peculiar choice: “I got my phone and I took myself out of the dressing room and I went along the corridor and sat on the floor and listened to messages…
“But I wasn’t in the dressing room celebrating, because I thought it was all a bit weird. I remember thinking, ‘I would have loved to have done this with Liverpool’.
“Because I would have been right at the forefront of it all and sort of knowing all the words and really throwing myself into it. I was very much on the peripheries of all the [Madrid] celebrations just because I couldn’t understand it.”
During his four-year spell at the Bernabeu, McManaman claimed two Champions League crowns, a pair of La Liga titles, the UEFA Super Cup and the Supercopa de Espana.
The midfielder formed part of the club’s legendary ‘Galacticos’ era alongside superstars including Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane.