Madrid applauds Woodgate
November 2005

"I got applauded off the pitch. Don't ask me why,"

It was six weeks ago against Athletic Bilbao at the Bernabeu and, as debuts go, they don't really get much worse. Trudging off the pitch with a red card to add to his first-half own goal, Jonathan Woodgate thought the whole world was against him.

He dared not think what the Real Madrid faithful must have made of their big-money signing's first contribution in the famous white shirt. Then they let him know.

"I got applauded off the pitch. Don't ask me why," he recalled when he met up with TheFA.com in Madrid this week.

"I'd scored an own goal and got sent off and then got clapped off the pitch. It was a brilliant experience. One minute I was so down thinking 'my god, this just can't get any worse for me' and then, when they applauded me off, it was unbelievable.

"I know footballers often say 'oh the fans are great' but people really don't realise how important the Madrid fans have been for me. They have given me confidence."

"Some of them could have said, 'hang on a minute, this lad hasn't played for a year, he's getting paid these wages and he comes in and just look at him in his first game.'

"But they must have looked at it and just thought what a nightmare it was for me, and that I needed a bit of luck and support.

"I know footballers often say 'oh the fans are great' but people really don't realise how important the Madrid fans have been for me. They have given me confidence."

After a year in less than splendid isolation, Woodgate is now loving every minute of "feeling part of it again."

"I did feel a bit on the outside of things last season," he says. "I was in the gym every day with the trainer while everyone else was on the pitch playing. It's not a nice feeling.

"You have to remember that the other players didn't know me that well. They only used to see me for two hours at training and that was it. I wasn't travelling with them or anything.

"It was a hard time but you have to be strong when you're injured. I've come through it and now I feel like I'm there and I'm involved."

"I'll just give it to Zidane, or Beckham or Ronaldo. What's the point in Woodgate running up the pitch when he can just sit back there and defend?"

In a dressing-room filled with superstars, Woodgate is already in the thick of the banter.

"I've got loads of nicknames here now," he reveals. "One of them is Chichi, after Pichichi who is one of the best strikers ever to play in Spain. The lads started calling me that after my own goal!"

So how does he get on with Ronaldo, Raul, Carlos et al?

"To be fair they are just normal guys, down to earth blokes. They've got no airs or graces. You can go to some clubs and find a 'big time charlie' but at this club, even though they are the best players in the world, no one thinks they are big time. They are sound; normal just like anyone else.

"I'm not going to lie though; it is a dream to play alongside players like that. Remember that free-kick Roberto Carlos scored against France? I can remember watching that when I was on holiday in Ibiza. And now here I am playing alongside him.

"I know I'm not on the same level as them and I can't go forward like they do but, at the same time, they couldn't do my job either. That's why it works.

"There's no point in me trying to do things that other people can do better than me. If I get the ball, I'll just pass it easy. There's no point in over-complicating things.

"I'll just give it to Zidane, or Beckham or Ronaldo. What's the point in Woodgate running up the pitch when he can just sit back there and defend?"

Although he calls home every day to be informed of all the latest news from England, you get a real sense that Woodgate is enjoying the life of an Englishman abroad. He even looks like a Spaniard, with his new, flowing-lock look. That, though, he puts down to laziness in not getting it cut rather than any pre-meditated attempt to fit in.

"I'm not going to deny it's hard, because it is," he admits. "So you've got to be mentally strong, but it's all good.

"I think more players should come abroad, to test it out. It's a different way of life, and a different experience in a different league.

"You learn new things every day. I would recommend it to anyone."

No wonder those Madrid fans like him.