REAL FAN NADAL COURTS CONTROVERSY WEARING ATLETICO JERSEY

MADRID: World No. 1 tennis player Rafael Nadal has put himself in the middle of a football controversy.

A longtime Real Madrid supporter, Nadal appeared with a Atletico Madrid jersey during the club’s Europa League match against Arsenal last week, making headlines across Spain and attracting a wave of social media reactions from fans from both teams.

Nadal couldn’t avoid the issue when he arrived in the Spanish capital for this week’s Madrid Open.

“Well, there is a problem with today’s society, that to be a true supporter of one team, it seems that you have to be anti another team,” Nadal said on Monday.

“I just support Real Madrid. I have a lot of friends that are from Atletico. They are playing in a com- petition in Europe against an English team. I just went there to support Atletico Madrid. They invited me. I just wanted to enjoy the day, to see a great football match.”

Nadal was captured on camera with the jersey around his neck during the team’s 1-0 win at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on Thursday, a result that allowed Atletico to reach the final of Europe’s second-tiered club competition.

“The (club’s) president gave me a T-shirt as a gift,” Nadal said.

“At night it was a little bit chilly, a little bit cold, and I just used it as a scarf. That’s all. But it’s always the same stuff. Maybe there’s too much hypocrisy, or I would say you people in the media have to write too many things, so you have to explore some stupid things.” — AP