Pepe explains perfectly what I’ve been telling you all year:
"We had huge personalities. Massive egos. Bigger than what people see today. But we understood the code. The HIERARCHY. The RESPECT. Inside that team, everyone knew what Madrid represented."
When you disrespect your coach or a teammate, you are disrespecting the whole team. Real Madrid.
Pepe on the recent tensions in the Real Madrid dressing room 👇:
Sergio Ramos: “Pepe, I heard you even called Álvaro [Arbeloa] to ask him what’s really going on there.”
Pepe: “I can’t say everything in public. Once we’re off air, I’ll tell you. But honestly... sometimes it shocks me when I look at this Madrid team. Do you remember when I told you to go and ask a player how he wanted my revenge after a hard tackle? (laughs) Whether he wanted it soft so he could survive the next match... or so hard that he would miss the rest of the season. That was the mentality back then. But here’s the difference... all that aggression was against opponents, never against our own dressing room. Never. We had huge personalities. Massive egos. Bigger than what people see today. But we understood the code. The hierarchy. The respect. Inside that team, everyone knew what Madrid represented. When it came to protecting the badge, we all moved together. That’s why we were dangerous. Now I look at this team and I see too much emotion directed inward. Too many fights among themselves. And I keep asking myself... has the code been lost now? Because at Madrid, talent alone was never enough. I remember when Gareth Bale arrived. Big star, a lot of money, Premier League reputation... and he understood immediately: none of that matters here. At Madrid, you earn respect first. Only then do you become family.”