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Barcelona and Real Madrid fans back to supporting Neymar and Morata

Barcelona and Real Madrid fans back to supporting Neymar and Morata

  • Jordan Russell (@JordRuss96)
Football’s a funny old game at times. Who would have thought that, just a few months after their respective departures from La Liga’s big two sides, Neymar and Álvaro Morata would play such pivotal roles in determining their former rivals’ fate? Yet that is exactly what has happened…
 
Yesterday afternoon’s UEFA Champions League Round of 16 draw provided the football world with some mouthwatering ties, not least Chelsea versus Barcelona and Real Madrid versus Paris Saint-Germain. Europe’s premier club competition has a habit of giving players the chance to haunt their former employers, and indeed former rivals. This year will be no different.
 
Given the resentment and anger directed towards Neymar when he left Catalonia for Paris last summer, there is great irony in the fact so many Barça fans will be rooting for him to lead his new team to victory over Los Blancos. As everyone knows, football is synonymous with throwing up this type of scenario.
 
On the other side of the coin, Madrid fans will find themselves supporting a man who, it’s fair to say, didn’t entirely convince everyone when he played there; the aforementioned Morata. Come February, Merengues fans will be willing him on to do well like never before when he and his Chelsea teammates look to conquer Ernesto Valverde’s side.
 
It is an odd quirk of fate that will see fans of two of the biggest teams in the world support their ex-players with as much passion as ever before. That is what such intense, deep-rooted and institutional rivalry can do – that is why we all love football so much.