Tearful Marcelo bids farewell to Real Madrid after 15 years

Gulf Today Report

Real Madrid legend Marcelo bid a tearful farewell to the "best club in the world", thanking the staff and his teammates for allowing him to "wake up every day with a feeling of joy."

The Brazilian had been at Real Madrid since 2007 and leaves after collecting his fifth Champions League trophy.

The Spanish club confirmed that a farewell party for its Brazilian back will be held on Monday at Valdebebas training grounds, after 15 years and 25 titles.

The European and La Liga champion said that his captain Marcelo, who will become a free player on the 30th of this month, will hold a press conference at the Real Madrid City complex after his farewell, in the presence of club president Florentino Perez.

Marcelo, who was bought by Real to succeed his compatriot Roberto Carlos, is the last player from the team of former club president Ramon Calderon, which included 6 Dutchmen (Huntelaar, Van der Vaart, Schneider, Robben, Drenth, Van Nistelrooy) and five Argentines (Garai, Heinze, Saviola, Higuain, Gago) and 4 Spaniards (Parejo, de la Red, Javi Garcia and Miguel Torres), along with Mali Mahmoudo Diarra, Czech Dudek, Portuguese Pepe, Italian Cannavaro, German Metzilder and French Lassana Diarra.

Real Madrid earned 135.5 million euros from the sale of the Calderon team, and the highest price for Higuain, who moved to Napoli, was 37 million euros, while 10 players left for free: Cannavaro, Diarra, Nistelrooy, de la Red (who retired from the ball due to a heart problem), Dudek, Heinze, Drenth, Metzelder, Pepe, and the last of them, Marcelo.