Why do Real treat their stars so harshly?

Claude Makelele has revealed how Real Madrid forced him out of the Bernabeu.

“During this time I had two years left on my contract, after we won our first La Liga title,” Makélélé told Stadium Astro.

“Afterwards, the club president [Florentino Lopez] said to me ‘maybe we’ll renew your contact for another year’.

“I said it would be my pleasure.

“He said ‘it won’t be what we give [Zinedine] Zidane’ but I didn’t care.

“I shook his hand at every single game. I spoke to the President and said ‘when I come back, I’ll sign my contract’.

“‘Yes, no problem’, he replied.”

The club then signed [David] Beckham and even more of the ‘Galacticos’,” continued Makélélé.

“When we came back, I got my manager to see the President for my new contract.

“But he said there was no money left after signing Beckham.”

“He [Valdano] came to talk to me a little too aggressively,” added Makélélé.

“‘What are you thinking? You should be playing at Real Madrid for free’.

“He said ‘if you want to move, find us a team that will pay €15m for you’.

“Five teams made big offers – I didn’t want any problems.

“But Real denied any offers, so I went to the manager.

“I said ‘I’ve got a problem now. I don’t want to play here anymore – the club doesn’t respect me’.

“I wanted my team-mates to know the story because I was going to fight the club.”