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.
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.
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“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.
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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.”
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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.
