Real Madrid’s pre-season tour came to an end but in vain as they faced a 3-1 defeat to Italian giants Juventus but the vibes are still unmatched in the Los Blancos camp.
David Alaba posted a USA dump of Madrid’s pre-season which saw him playing Basketball with Luka Modric at Dallas Mavericks’ facility, signing autographs, posing with Basketball player, Kyle Kuzma.
One of the photos also saw him posing with teammates Antonio Rudiger and Eduardo Camavinga. The pair however, commented on Alaba’s post with what seems to be a new nickname for the Austrian.
Camavinga and Rudiger commented “Alabama” under Alaba’s post and it looks like this is the ex-Bayern defender’s new nickname at Real Madrid.
Alabama sounds quite similar to Alaba and fans online have come up with a theory to provide context behind the nickname given to the Austrian by his teammates.
One such fan claims that the reason behind his name could be that some fans mispronounced his name in the US, which is notoriously known to mess up European names and the players stuck with it.
While others believe that the reason behind Camavinga and Rudiger’s comments could be due to famous American Youtuber Ishowspeed”s pronunciation of the Austrian defender’s name when he packed his TOTs 94 rated card on FIFA.
Prior to this Alaba Was also known as the “Chairman” across Real Madrid fan circles due to his iconic celebration lifting the chair when Real Madrid came back from the ruins to beat PSG from a 2-0 deficit in the Round of 16 of the 21/22 Uefa Champions League.
The Austrian continued this spontaneous moment when Real Madrid ended up becoming Champions of that season’s UCL campaign, winning 1-0 against Liverpool in the final.
Alaba and Speed have followed each other’s traces as the defender like Speed’s post when he managed to meet his idol Cristiano Ronaldo after a Portugal game.
Speed has linked up with many footballers including the likes of Neymar Jr, Alphonso Davies, Jamal Musiala and Jesse Lingard.
A link up between Speed and Alaba could be on the cards given his nickname amongst his teammates and if it happens it would be quite meme worthy, perhaps a FIFA pack opening as well.