Sid Lowe

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.

It's not just that he'd lost Xabi Alonso, an opportunity had been lost.

And why do I say this?

Because last year was fairly disastrous.

For most of the season, Ancelotti was talking about effort, he was talking about attitude, he was talking about essentially there being a lack of commitment.

And with the arrival of Xavi Alonso after Carlo Ancelotti, he was wildly successful and we should never lose sight of that.

There was a sense that here's the chance to construct something, to build a structured team, to build something that's done by a manager, that has a model, that has a changing culture, that has a step into the right direction.