Danilo: Booed by fans, backed by teammates

The defender has been criticised after a poor Champions League performance

Posted Monday, April 11, 2016 by Marca.com

In Real Madrid's 4-0 victory over Eibar on Saturday, the home fans whistled and booed Brazilian full-back Danilo for his performance against Wolfsburg in the Champions League last Wednesday, but his teammates have come out in his defence.

There were two occasions on Saturday where the Real supporters made their feelings towards Danilo known; firstly, as the announcer read out his name on the teamsheet pre-match, and secondly when he came on for Carvajal in the 63rd minute.

Whistles and boos could be heard around the ground as the Brazilian took to the turf of Estadio Bernabeu, a reaction to his poor performance in Real's 2-0 defeat to Wolfsburg on Wednesday night.

Dani Carvajal, ironically Danilo's main rival in the Real Madrid starting XI, has come out in support of his teammate, calling the fans' actions "extremely unjust."

"Against Wolfsburg," the Spaniard said, "we all played badly and are all in the same boat. If you whistle a teammate, you whistle all of us."

Carvajal is not the only Real Madrid player to show a display of support towards the Brazilian, as both Alvaro Arbeloa and Pepe greeted Danilo encouragingly as he took to the pitch on Saturday afternoon.

And despite the aforementioned whistles directed towards him against Eibar, the negativity did not seem to affect him.

The 24-year-old showed professionalism and fortitude by ignoring the taunts and delivering a strong performance.He didn't hide, but instead regularly looked to receive the ball, while the harsh reception did not phase his concentration as he completed 91 percent of his passes.

He even nearly contributed to a goal as he combined with Cristiano Ronaldo in the area, and was unlucky not to reach the ball before Asier Riesgo, the Eibar goalkeeper.

Whatever happens in the return leg against Wolfsburg, support from the fans will be crucial, and Carvajal has urged them to get behind the team to help them go through to the semi-finals: "We hope that on Tuesday people will change their whistles to applause, and support us."