Ex-Bayern professional makes allegations
“Been cheated every time”
March 4, 2026 – 7:20 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Arturo Vidal had an average start to the season with the Chilean record champions Colo Colo. The 38-year-old Tacheles speaks in a podcast.
Ex-Bayern professional Arturo Vidal has made serious allegations against Real Madrid. Speaking on the Spanish-language podcast Enfocados Te Apuesto, the midfielder said: “Every time I played against Real Madrid I was cheated.”
The Chilean international particularly remembers the 2017 Champions League quarter-finals. At that time he played against Real Madrid with FC Bayern. In the first leg, which Munich lost 2-1, Vidal missed a penalty and Javi Martínez was shown a yellow-red card.
However, the big excitement from Vidal’s point of view came in the second leg. When the score was 2-1 for the German record champions, Vidal was also sent off after his second yellow card. When asked if he felt cheated, he answered clearly “yes” and added, “when we lost to Bayern in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.” So also a year later, when it wasn’t enough for Munich against Real Madrid in the round of the last four.
The midfielder even goes one step further: “The VAR was introduced because of Real Madrid. There was simply too much fraud beforehand.” This statement cannot of course be objectively verified and is also highly questionable, but it shows the frustration that Vidal has accumulated.
At the same time, he used the podcast appearance to make self-confident comparisons. For example, with Sergio Busquets, former Spanish midfield director at FC Barcelona: “He’s the best five-man. But I can do everything, and that makes me better.”
Vidal sees it similarly when comparing himself to ex-Real professional and coach Xabi Alonso. He is also better than Alonso: “He has a fantastic shot, but he once called me ‘boss’.”
