‘My best friend was the vodka bottle’ – Wesley Sneijder enjoyed Madrid’s nightlife a little too much

Ollie Irish

25th, June 2020

Buckle up, Wesley Sneijder has an autobiography out. Now you might not have pegged the Dutchman as one of football’s wild men – male pattern baldness is not one of the hallmarks of rock and roll, after all. But it turns out he was something of a party animal during his short stint at Real Madrid (2007-09). Sneijder writes:

“I was not aware that moving to Real also meant I moved into the nightlife of Madrid… I got sucked into it. I was young, I was enjoying success and I was loving all the attention. That is where it must have gone wrong for me later in my life.

“I didn’t do drugs, but I did do booze and had a rock-‘n-roll lifestyle as one of the stars of Real Madrid. All the things I was up to were all covered up, even when I was absolutely drunk, rolling on the streets and spending thousands of euros paying for all the drinks in every place.

“I was weak and did not show any resistance. I let people treat me like a star. There was always a team-mate with me at Real Madrid – and usually, that was Guti.

“I did not realise that my best friend was the vodka bottle.”

Yes, Wes does have his own wine label. Don’t judge him.

Ahhh, Guti. Guti. The footballer with the air of a Eurotrash playboy who would spend a grand on a bottle of fizz in the VIP section of a Monte Carlo nightclub (and Tom Petty). All becomes as clear as the liquid in Sneijder’s glass.

Still, fair play to Wes for laying out his demons on the page. A little self-awareness goes a long way.

Guti, out there looking like Martina Navratilova dressed up as D’Artagnan

I imagine Guti, meanwhile, is unrepentant about his vida loca. He probably still rolls up his jacket sleeves. Steve McManaman said Guti was the most vain team-mate he ever had: “He was never out of the mirror,” Steve revealed in 2017 – a lovely phrase, you have to concede.

Posted in Newsnow, Real Madrid

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