During his time at Elland Road, unflattering epithets illustrated that Jonathan Woodgate's Leeds United team mates didn't think he was the sharpest knife in the drawer. Nonetheless, we are told he has learnt to speak Spanish fluently during his time at Real Madrid, though he has had to find something to do during the 515 days between first team games!
Tonight, his new linguistic skills would have enabled Woodgate to understand the colourful comments from the Bernebau faithful as he hammered home a headed own-goal, from 20 yards out, in the 24th minute of his Real Madrid debut against Athletic Bilbao.
He rounded off the first half with a booking in the 44th minute for a tackle for which a less sympathetic referee would have issued a straight red card. Olé!!
Update: In order to make his debut possibly the worst in fooball history, Jonathan Woodgate was sent off 20 minutes into the second-half when he received a 2nd yellow card for a challenge that really amounted to obstruction by a player who hasn't played competitively for 17 months. He was caught out for pace and as the last defender he had to go. Jonathan will take some small satisfaction from the fact that the 10 men of Real Madrid beat Bilbao 3-1, to lift themselves out of the relegation zone of La Liga and all the way to fifth! Any faster rising up the league and the players would need treatment for nosebleeds!!
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