New Real Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa will be sitting far more comfortably this week after his side beat AS Monaco 6-1 in the Champions League. That combined with Barcelona slipping up and Los Blancos reducing the gap in La Liga to just a point are helping to put the memory of their Copa del Rey exit to Albacete in the background.

Since his very first press conference as Real Madrid manager, Arbeloa has been keen to talk up the lore of Real Madrid, espousing the greatness of the club. He seems laser-focused on building unity and a culture at the Bernabeu, and also told the players a story about that following their loss to Albacete.

Alvaro Arbeloa grew up an Atletico Madrid fan

However he was not always so keen on Real Madrid. Speaking to DAZN, Masterchef winner Eneko Fernandez de Garayalde spoke about his experience sharing a dressing room with Arbeloa as an academy talent at Real Zaragoza.

“He’s a year older than me, he played on a team ahead of me, but we did share training sessions and a few matches, and that’s where I met him. It’s funny that back then – I’m not going to reinvent the wheel – but he was an Atletico Madrid fan. I say I’m not going to reinvent the wheel because we’ve all seen pictures of him in that shirt (the Atleti one), and it’s one of the things I remember most.”

At the age of 18, Arbeloa moved to Real Madrid, where he would spent five years in the academy, before spells at Deportivo La Coruna and Liverpool. Returning to Real Madrid in 2009, Arbeloa spent a further seven years at the Bernabeu as a senior players.

Eneko y sus anécdota sobre Arbeloa

"No descubro la pólvora, era del Atlético de Madrid" #ElPost ⚽

— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) January 18, 2026

Crossovers between Real Madrid and their rivals

Arbeloa would not be the first player or coach to have ended up at the Bernabeu by way of a rival, or in spite of supporting one of them. The most high-profile modern examples of players swapping Barcelona for Real Madrid are Ronaldo Nazario, and more directly, Luis Figo.

On top of that, Real Madrid’s leading Spanish goalscorer in their history, and a hailed talent from La Fabrica, arrived from Atletico Madrid’s academy. Raul Gonzalez would go on to become a symbol of Real Madrid.