The Rest Is Football
Vinicius, Bellingham and Valverde booed at the Bernabeu & Barca suffer defeat
20 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: Why were Vinicius Jr, Jude Bellingham, and Fede Valverde booed at the Bernabeu?
Coming up on today's show, Real Madrid get back to winning ways but were booed by the fans at the Bernabeu as the fallout from Xavi Alonso's sacking continues. Barcelona drop points in the title race, losing 2-1 in a thrilling game at Real Sociedad. Atletico Madrid made up ground on Villarreal with a 1-0 win at home to Alaves after Real Betis dispatched the yellow submarine 2-0 on Saturday.
Stay tuned. Hello and welcome to the rest is football La Liga with Alex Aljo and me, Gary Lineker. It's been a, well, very interesting week in La Liga. Real Madrid have changed managers. As we already know, they've been dumped out of the Copa del Rey in humiliating fashion, being booed at the Bernabeu despite winning.
And despite all that as well, they've closed the gap with Barcelona to just one point. as Barcelona's really good run in the league ended. Before we get into the action, though, how are you doing, Alex? And tell us where you are.
Chapter 2: How did Barcelona's nine-game winning streak come to an end?
I'm in Milan. I'm in Milan for Champions League for Inter Arsenal. So looking forward to that. How was the AFCON final, Gary?
Let's say mildly bonkers. It was the first time I'd ever been to the AFCON.
Chapter 3: What challenges does new manager Alvaro Arbeloa face at Real Madrid?
It was lovely. The ground was amazing. We went in there, got locked after nicely, met lots of superstars. Yeah, it was all in the game itself. It was a little, you know, as they always are, slightly cagey. I thought they went for it to a degree. Both sides had decent chances, missed them. And Harry and myself were sitting there thinking, oh, it's going to be nil-nil.
It's going to be penalties, perhaps like it was in the last one. And then all of a sudden everything changed. And it just went from being a fairly mundane game to one of the most bonkers 20, 25 minutes I've ever seen. I mean, I've been around a long time, as you know, Alex, and I've seen a lot of stuff in football, but I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like this.
Obviously, the aspects of it were amusing, aspects of it were really worrying, particularly when the crowd kicked off. I mean, it was odd. Just before the referee gave a penalty, obviously, at the other end, he blew his whistle too early because I think VAR, well, we don't know whether they would or not, but would probably have turned over the referee's decision.
But because he blew before the ball went into the net, he therefore could not intervene. So then a couple of minutes later, down the other end, We're sitting there watching the game and then everyone's getting excited on the pitch and they're all jumping around. We're thinking, well, what's going on here? He had no idea. Absolutely zero idea in the stadium.
And then suddenly everyone's kicking off near the benches. Both teams are exasperated. And then suddenly he gives a penalty. VR has intervened. I mean, why they did that? I mean... You can't do that. That's just madness.
Then what happened? The players went into the dressing room?
Half the team. Half the team went off. Senegal team.
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Chapter 4: What impact did the booing have on Real Madrid players?
Not all of them.
How long was it?
I think overall, probably the whole thing lasted around 15 minutes, I would say. It seemed longer. The one thing I would say that I think the genuine hero out of this was Sadio Mane because he never went down the tunnel. The only time he went down the tunnel was to drag his teammates basically back out on the pitch. He was a true captain, a true leader.
He did the right thing because whatever you think about the decision, you can't walk off. You can't do that sort of thing. And he got them back on the field of play. And I said to Harry... He's going to miss this penalty. I mean, he's had 20 minutes to think about it. And he's out-thought himself. Now, there's a lot of conspiracy theories going around that he deliberately missed it, right?
And there is no way he did that. I mean, he was in tears. Why would you do it? They're saying it's because of the Senegal reaction. It was all sorted. And I thought, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
There are other ways to miss a pen as well.
Well, if you're going to deliberately miss a penalty for sporting reasons, you're going to make it obvious by kicking it wide by 30 yards. Now, I don't know whether you know this interesting little fact. When penalties were first brought in, it was here by the Football Association. it was deemed as unsporting to score from the penalty.
So they used to deliberately miss in the early days and they kicked them really wide, right? So that's what you do if you deliberately miss a penalty. Because otherwise, why would you deliberately miss it in that way where you look a complete plonker? And I know because I looked a complete plonker many years ago and I missed one of those all bit. But the one thing I thought to myself...
I did do it again. I did it again a couple of times, yeah. And I scored about five Panenka's in my career and missed one, which was quite the only one that anyone ever remembers. But if you do miss it, you look stupid. Now, he's out-thought himself.
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Chapter 5: What were the controversial moments in the Barcelona vs Real Sociedad match?
Now it's a Levante side facing relegation themselves. That's Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe just away from De La Fuente, referee points to the penalty spot and he did so in a flash. It's Adrian De La Fuente's challenge. A more blatant penalty than that you will not see. It's Kylian Mbappe who calmly rolls in goal number 30 of the season for Real Madrid. gave the goalkeeper the eye and rolled it in.
It's Artagula's corner. It's Raul Asensio's header! Real Madrid, by themselves, some breathing space. And Raul Asensio with a perfectly directed header there. Artagula. Mbappe. This is Mastantuono! A lovely effort that almost crept in but kissed the top of the crossbar. Vinicius Junior sets off and with his pace will comfortably keep it in. Is there to be one final flourish from Real Madrid?
That's Artagula and it bubbles wide. Real Madrid have got the job done and that will come as an almighty relief to them and to him.
OK, Alex, it was a win for Real Madrid, but it didn't seem to satisfy the Real Madrid fan base. They were booing one or two players and most notably Vinicius Junior, also a Jew Bellingham as well.
Yeah, it was from the moment the team bus arrived. I've spoken to friends in Madrid and they have said they've never known the Bernabeu like it, unprecedented.
Not bad, really, because they do tend to show their feelings.
Yeah, they do show their feelings, but apparently this was like nothing they'd ever heard before, just from start to finish. The white handkerchiefs were out everywhere. boos, whistles, three players in particular were targeted being Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Feddy Valverde.
Fede Valverde.
Yeah, they're the three that are deemed to have caused Xabi Alonso's sacking.
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Chapter 6: How did Villarreal's defeat affect their title race hopes?
It's not good for the club. Some players were exempt, Raul Asensio and Thibaut Courtois. They were applauded, but those three players just booed throughout. And yeah, it was a really poor first half.
Chapter 7: What role did Alexander Sorloth play in Atletico Madrid's recent success?
They were better in the second half, but not a convincing performance. A really terrible few days for Real Madrid and It's not going to be an easy job for Arbeloa. I thought it was interesting what he said after the game. He came out in his press conference and he said people were booing that didn't like Real Madrid, that didn't like the club. And I'm not sure if I agree with that.
I've had experience of this as well at Barcelona and it is very similar there as well. That can happen when they turn against you. And believe you me, it is from the fans. They care about the club. Well, they do. I mean, I don't think that necessarily helps the club and helps the situation, but they're the paying customers.
They're the ones that, you know, pay some of your wages, I should say, because obviously TV money is probably the most important thing. And, you know, they have a right to express their view, even if it ultimately doesn't necessarily help the team. Kylian Mbappe spoke, didn't he, afterwards and said, right, OK, you can boo, but boo everyone, not just selected players.
It is interesting that they've selected those three players.
Jude Bellingham is the one that really surprised me.
Yeah, because he was been very popular. I mean, I suppose, you know, if you've got people leaking stuff that those are the players that did for Xabi Alonso. But at the same time, when Xabi Alonso was in charge, they didn't exactly support him from the terraces either, did they? No. So, you know, there's a lot of complaints, but, you know, you can't win.
And, I mean, Jude Bellingham's come out and said it's complete nonsense.
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of the latest La Liga results for the title race?
Well, he's been criticised. There's a lot of talk in the media that he's always out in nightclubs. Is there? Yeah, there's a lot of chat that he's always, always out.
That would really surprise me. I hope it's not true. I hope he's not lost his way a little bit. I think he's, I mean, he's just an incredible talent.
There's been lots of photos, I think, of him out in the nightclubs. We know there's a great nightlife in Madrid.
I remember my time in Barcelona. We went to nightclubs. Nobody really bothered you over there and your private life and stuff like that. You can go to a nightclub after a game. You can have a fun night. There's nothing wrong with that.
I mean, nowadays, obviously things have changed and I've got to be careful of my words because, you know, in the modern game now, the players, their diet, their thing, everything about them has to be exemplary. Yeah. So, I mean, the cup defeat was extraordinary, wasn't it?
Yeah. Yeah. Albacete, yeah, mentioned earlier, 14th in the Segunda division. Real Madrid values 90 times more. than that of Albacete. Nobody saw that defeat coming out of the Copa del Rey, which was Alvaro Arbeloa's first game in charge. Not a great start for him.
Not at all.
It was the training ground the next day, I think at 6.57am and said there was lots of work to do. He was asked about it in his press conference. He said, I've got a lot to do.
Did he come in straight from the nightclub?
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