MADRID — Dani Carvajal said his departure marks the “end of a marvellous era” at Real Madrid after the defender played his last game for the club in a 4-2 win over Athletic Club.
The six-time Champions League winner received a guard of honour from both teams, and a standing ovation from the crowd, as he was substituted in the 84th minute at the Bernabéu on Saturday.
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Madrid confirmed this week that academy product Carvajal, 34, would be leaving at the end of the season, after an injury hit 2025-26 campaign.
The right-back departs as the player with the second-most trophies in Madrid’s history, with 27, one behind former teammate Luka Modric.
“I’m very emotional,” Carvajal said, delivering a speech in the centre circle after the match. “The first thing I want to do is thank our president, Don Florentino [Pérez]. He was the one who brought me back from Germany. We won a lot of Champions Leagues together.
“But if I focus on one thing, it’s that not even 24 hours after I suffered a knee injury [in 2024], he didn’t hesitate to renew my contract. Thank you. And I want to thank all my teammates. These two seasons haven’t been easy, but I am sure that we’ll win again, this is Real Madrid, we have to pick ourselves up, as our history says.”
Carvajal spent a decade at Madrid’s academy as a youngster, taking part in the ceremony that laid the first stone at the club’s training ground, Valdebebas, alongside legend Alfredo di Stéfano.
He spent a season at Bayer Leverkusen before returning in 2013, and becoming a key part of a historic spell at the club, winning the Champions League in 2014, and then in 2016, 2017 and 2018, before more recent successes in 2022 and 2024.
“Today I also can’t forget the golden era that we’ve lived through,” Carvajal said on Saturday. “With my departure today, it’s the end of a marvellous era. An era of four Champions Leagues in five years, the Décima [Madrid’s 10th European Cup] three in a row.
“Cristiano [Ronaldo], [Iker] Casillas, [Sergio] Ramos, [Carlo] Ancelotti, [Zinedine] Zidane … They’re countless names that took this badge, and us, to great heights.”
Madrid also said goodbye to David Alaba on Saturday, with the centre-back, 33, leaving after five years, two league titles and two Champions Leagues.
During another on-field tribute post-match, Alaba and fans held up plastic chairs as a reminder of the defender’s iconic celebration when Madrid fought back to beat Paris Saint-Germain at the Bernabéu in a dramatic comeback in 2022.
