In the summer of 1996, Real Madrid made a revolution with the purpose of recovering the lost supremacy in Spain. For that, Los Blancos signed Fabio Capello as manager. The Italian made very important signings for Real, such as Pedja Mijatovic, Davor Suker and Clarence Seedorf; but also other not so relevant. That is the case of Carlos Secretario.
The Portuguese arrived from Porto described as one of the best right-backs in Europe. Moreover, Real boasted about it for having stolen Secretario to their arch rivals Barcelona, who have also shown a great interest in signing him.
However, after a few months, many Madridistas whised Barça had signed Secretario, as the defender performed at a very low level in Madrid. The images of Fernando Hierro constantly telling the Portuguese off because of the spaces he always left uncovered have passed into Real’s history.
Plus, Secretario showed himself very aggressive when he played, as he was booked six times in his 13 appearances for Los Blancos. The fact that Real Madrid legend Chendo was his predecessor was also a handicap for the Portuguese. In fact, Los Merengues signed Christian Panucci in the winter market because they stopped trusting Secretario.
The defender would move back to Porto in January 1998. However, he didn’t show any self-criticism and blamed the fans and the journalists for his exit: “I’m sad. I feel bad. These are hard moments for me. I believe I have been treated unfairly. The press took it out on me since I arrived and the fans soon made their thoughts clear about me. Everybody has been very harsh on me”.
Secretario played at Porto until 2004, when he moved to Maia after having won the one Champions League and one UEFA Cup. He finally retired in 2005. Then, he became a manager. At the moment, he coaches Salgueiros, a third division club in Portugal, after having managed Maia, Lousada and Arouca.
