Figo more, he said he wants to build a team of superstars…and Figo was going to be the first. He said Figo should forget about the 30m, he should just come to Real Madrid, they were going to win everything.
Gaspert had also won the Barcelona presidential election. He said Figo called him at midnight and told him that he had two tickets from Lisbon, one to Barcelona and one to Real Madrid (don’t forget players were on holiday, it was summer, that’s the reason Figo was in Lisbon).
Figo told him to pledge on improving his contract, gave him a specific amount, something around this, but Gaspert said he can’t do such, and it’s even midnight (Figo denied saying that).
Figo then flew to Real Madrid next day to sign, the football world went crazy. Please watch the day Figo was unveiled as a Real Madrid player. He wasn’t even happy, he didn’t want to go, but he said Perez showed him that he had value, and Barcelona hierarchy were messing with him.
The video of Figo at Camp Nou is one of the most circulated video of betrayal in the football world. Barca hosted Madrid in a la Liga match. 100,000 people filled up Camp Nou, and it was against Luis Figo not even against Madrid.
They chanted all through the game. In fact, when Figo got off the bus, about 10 policemen had to guard him because the crowd were ready to burn him.
They made chants about his girlfriend being a whor£, they attacked his family, they printed notes of money with his face on it to show that he chose money, they labelled him a traitor. He had never seen such hate in his life. Till date, I don’t think any player has experienced such hate in their life by a fanbase.
Figo couldn’t take corner kicks, police men were on corner flags because the fans were throwing things, it was madness. Barcelona ended up winning that game again😭
Fast forward, Gaspert ended up being arguably the worst president in Barcelona’s history, because after Figo left, Barcelona went trophyless for about 5 years and Real Madrid were winning. In fact, Figo won the league in his first season at Madrid, won the champions league the next season, he won everything in that 5 years at Real Madrid.
He still lives in Madrid till date and says he does not regret leaving, and he didn’t leave to hurt the fans.
Crazy football stories for days mehn.