Toni Kroos posted an emotional message to Dani Carvajal on Instagram Friday, urging Madrid fans to give the right back a grand farewell as Carvajal prepares to start what is described as his last match for Real Madrid on Saturday at the Santiago Bernabéu against Athletic Club.
Kroos, who shared a dressing room and a trophy cabinet with Carvajal, wrote: "Madridistas, mañana se va uno de los más grandes. ¡Uno de los nuestros! Uno que siempre fue un ejemplo por su actitud. Uno que defendió al Real Madrid en cada situación con todo lo que tenía. ¡Dad mañana la despedida que merece! ¡Dejadle salir por la puerta grande! ¡Hacedle sentir lo mismo que yo pude sentir hace dos años! Fue un placer jugar contigo. Gracias Dani Carvajal". Carvajal responded on Instagram with three hearts.
The numbers underline what the send-off is about: Carvajal and Kroos played 315 matches together, and Carvajal leaves a record peppered with titles — six Champions League trophies, four La Ligas, two Copa del Rey titles, six Club World Cups, four Spanish Super Cups and five UEFA Super Cups. Many inside the club and among supporters describe him as probably the best right back in Real Madrid history.
Sports coverage projecting the weekend lineup frames Carvajal as the starter at right back for Saturday's match. The same projection lists David Alaba, Raúl Asencio, Álvaro Carreras, Thiago Pitarch and Thibaut Courtois in the expected XI, while noting Eder Militao, Ferland Mendy, Rodrygo and Arda Güler will not be available. The projection also allows the possibility that Vinicius Junior and Dean Huijsen could rest after finishing the previous match with physical discomfort.
Real Madrid will use the fixture to bid farewell to more than one veteran. The club will also say goodbye to David Alaba on Saturday; Carvajal posted his own message to Alaba on Friday: "David, que auténtico privilegio compartir 5 años contigo un vestuario. Eres un líder absoluto, en todos los sentidos. Solamente con ver la pasión que dedicas para ser mejor te das cuenta de la gran persona que eres, más gente como tú. Mucha suerte en todo lo que venga, David Alaba." Vinicius added his tribute the same day: "Hasta luego, meu irmãooooo. Fue un gran privilegio estar a tu lado durante todos estos años. Nunca voy a olvidar lo de tu silla y los partidazos en nuestra inolvidable Champions de 2022. También quiero destacar el gran líder que fuiste para este grupo durante todo este camino. Tu experiencia, tu alegría y tu personalidad marcaron la diferencia cada día. Y, por último, gracias por todo el cariño y el respeto que siempre tuviste con mi familia y mis amigos cuando estuvieron contigo. Son cosas que nunca se olvidan y sin dudan unas de las mejores personas que conozco. Te voy a extrañar mucho. Te quiero!"
Context sharpens the occasion. Sports reporting frames Saturday’s fixture as Real Madrid’s final game of the season after a 1-0 win over Sevilla, and it arrives in a campaign in which Carvajal’s minutes were limited by injuries and a lack of continuity that cost him a regular starting spot. That interrupted form also meant he did not secure a place at the World Cup, a practical blow that sits at odds with the scale of his career achievement.
The tension in the farewell is clear: a player widely regarded as probably the club’s greatest right back must now accept a send-off that follows a season of physical setbacks and fewer starts. He leaves with one of the most decorated résumés in the club’s modern era, yet the immediate story is less about trophies and more about a final appearance at the Bernabéu — and whether the match will feel like the closing scene his record seems to demand.
Whatever the noise in the stands on Saturday, Carvajal’s legacy is already written in numbers and memories: 315 matches alongside Kroos, a cabinet bulging with European and domestic honours, and a position in the club’s history few fullbacks can match. He will take the field at the stadium where those honours were often decided, return a gesture to Kroos and to a club that celebrated him for years, and leave as the player the locker room tributes on Friday — and his own three small hearts on Instagram — sought to honor.
