Former Real Madrid striker Nicolas Anelka has sensationally lifted the lid on his temporary spell within the Spanish capital.
Anelka accomplished a shock change to Los Blancos forward of the 1999/2000 season, after netting 17 league targets within the earlier marketing campaign, as Arsenal received a Premier League and FA Cup double.
His kind for the Gunners alerted Real Madrid on his rise as among the finest younger strikers in Europe.
However, regardless of excessive hopes of replicating that in Madrid, the previous France worldwide struggled to point out his finest model.
Anelka has often criticized media intrusion into his life in Spain – as he failed to attain a purpose in his first 5 months on the membership – earlier than leaving after only one season.
I’ve returned to Paris Saint-Germain forward of 2000/01 – the membership he left Arsenal for in 1997 – and he opened up on his points in Madrid as a part of a brand new Netflix documentary Anelka: Misunderstood.
Wenger, Henry, Drogba, Petit, Pogba and – *after all* – Nicolas Anelka, speaking about Nicolas Anelka? Oui. Très bon. Anelka: Misunderstood arrives on Netflix on August 5. pic.twitter.com/dg1xXIbBbT
— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) July 22, 2020
“I understood what it meant to be a star once I arrived at Real Madrid, and I hated it,” he mentioned.
“After being greeted on the airport by followers and journalists, I believed: ‘What am I doing right here?’ This is just too onerous. It was the start of a nightmare.
“I felt a whole lot of strain from the beginning. Every day within the Spanish press there was an article or a photograph about me.
“I might have preferred to attain extra, however I did not have the possibility, and I did not measure up. Too many issues occurred. In half, I do remorse it. Players at all times need to play for Real Madrid.
“There have been too many sacrifices to make and I used to be too younger to know.”
Anelka left Madrid with seven targets scored in all competitions in 1999/00, however he did safe a UEFA Champions League winners medal, as he began in Real Madrid’s 3-0 closing win over Valencia.