Speaking on his podcast Einfach Mal Luppen (h/t MARCA), Real Madrid midfield superstar Toni Kroos has opened up on the treatment he received from fans in Saudi Arabia.

The 33-year-old midfield icon was booed and whistled by the fans when Real Madrid played Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals. He was at the receiving end of a similar treatment in the finals against Barcelona as well.

The treatment emanated due to Kroos’ words against young footballers moving to Saudi during the summer window, with the German icon terming Gabri Veiga’s move to the country as ‘embarrassing‘.

Now, reacting to the treatment, Kroos stated that it did not bother him at all and instead it was kind of fun.

“It was something new and also exciting. You could empathise with someone who often experiences this in visiting stadiums. That was a new experience, something I hadn’t had before, but I didn’t want to miss it,” he said.

“I can say, from the bottom of my heart, that it didn’t bother me or affect the way I played, on the contrary, it was quite fun.”

“The joke is that the stadium was all white and they were all Real Madrid fans. I think there were 200 Osasuna fans in the semi-final and maybe 1,000 Barcelona fans in the final. So the rest of the stadium was completely white, so actually (the booing) was for me (laughs).”

Further discussing the matter, he added: “I thought from time to time, who can hold out the longest? (…) Over time it could become boring and in the final I noticed that there were fewer and fewer of them (laughs).

“When they changed me, everyone pulled themselves together again and gathered all their strength (to whistle for him). You get used to it and it makes you smile. The booing confirms what I said, I was probably right.”