Sid Lowe

And there were some whistles of him.

But that was immediately met by the rest of the crowd with applause and cheers.

And I think there was a conscious sense from the fans at the Bernabeu midweek, okay, we said what we wanted to say at the weekend.

We've got to put that behind us.

And now we play a part in encouraging this team.

And then on top of that, of course, you then get the really, really good performance in which Vinicius is involved in four goals.

Now that changes things.

And the fans were chanting Vinicius's name.

But again, worth pointing out, that was from the fans behind the goal who are, I don't know how best to describe them.

If you like kind of a state-sponsored supporters club.

They are the ones that have got the club behind them, and they kind of do the things that they have to do.

And some of the other fans joined in, but not all of them.

I think almost as significant, Dan, is the fact that Vinicius, when he celebrated, very pointedly did it without the supporters.

He wasn't yet prepared to share this moment with them because, of course, he feels victimized by some of what's happened.

Yes, absolutely.

And of course, look, I think it's really important this and I'm not sure how much focus there's been on this point, which, as I say, I think is absolutely central.

When you look at the whistles or you listen to the whistles more to the point in the game against Levante, I think those whistles were about obviously underperforming players, obviously a sense that Madrid weren't where they should be, obviously a sense that they hadn't constructed the squad as well.

But I think as much as anything else, they were about the sacking of Xabi Alonso.

Now, that's not to say that the fans were all saying, it's terrible, we shouldn't have sacked him.

But I think there was a feeling amongst a lot of Real Madrid fans that an opportunity had been lost.