Throughout its glittering history, Real Madrid have been able to attract a number of celebrity fans from other fields thanks to its global presence as a brand. The club boasts of a fan following from movie stars such as Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe and other sports personalities such as tennis legend Rafael Nadal and Formula 1 speedster Fernando Alonso.
In some cases, few celebrities have also been bestowed with the opportunity to become honorary members of the club which is the highest distinction awarded by Los Blancos. Nadal, Alonso and world rally champion Carlos Sainz Sr. are amongst the popular sports personalities to have received this official recognition from the club.
The Sainz’s affinity to Madrid looks to have carried on with the Spaniard’s son Sainz Jr who is currently an FI driver for Ferrari. Having been born in the Spanish capital Sainz has been a Madridista since his childhood.
Even before joining Ferrari, the 27-year-old set up a tradition for himself where he would place the Real badge inside his helmet while racing for McLaren.
For the past few years, Sainz has also been regularly linking up with Madrid’s first-team players for various promotional events. The most recent one would be when he joined Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to promote both FIFA 22 and F1 2021 games back in February.
Thanks to his longstanding, public affection for the club, Sainz has been regularly approached while in Spain by football fans, especially Real Madrid supporters with jerseys requesting autographs.
Recently while in the Iberian country, it looks like Sainz was presented with a Barcelona shirt by a fan, asking for his signature. However, the Spaniard was quick to reject the Cule’s advances and drove off without any remorse.
Following a 5th place finish at the weekend’s French Grand Prix, Sainz would not have been in the best of moods to be approached with a rival kit after Ferrari endured a disappointing evening.
Although the F1 driver took photographs with another fan, Sainz impressed his fellow Madrid supporters by promptly refusing to sign a Lionel Messi No. 10 Catalan kit.
Furthermore, in a fan grab of the moment, the Barca fan responded to the rejection by shouting “Forza Barca” perhaps in an attempt to rile up Sainz. But the Spaniard was in no mood to take prisoners and was seen retorting back “Forza Ferrari” before speeding away.
While Sainz may have acted in accordance with the rivalry between the two Spanish clubs, it appears the Spaniard is not completely opposed to being spotted with rival kits.
As Sainz and Ferrari were preparing for the French GP, the team was visited by Cecilia Salvai, one of the stars of the Juventus women’s team. While visiting the Ferrari crew, it looks like both their drivers, Charles Leclerc and Sainz took turns posing for photographs while holding a Juve home kit for the upcoming season.
It could very well have been the case that Sainz was perhaps forced to pose with a rival kit here just out of respect for a fellow athlete.
But the plain facts suggest that the Spaniard rejected only a Barca kit and hence, has done well to once again show where his loyalties lie when it comes to football.
