Real Madrid’s reputation could be on the line after former club nutritionist Itziar Gonzalez filed a lawsuit against the club following her dismissal, alleging she was subjected to a deeply hostile working environment during her time at the Bernabeu.

Speaking in an interview on the Rogue Cast YouTube channel, Gonzalez offered a troubling account of her two spells with the club, leveling a series of grave accusations.

A hostile welcome

Gonzalez, a respected sports nutritionist whose previous work reportedly included spells assisting the likes of Dani Carvajal, Rodrygo and Arda Guler, claims she was personally brought in at the request of president Florentino Perez during a period in which the club was battling a muscle injury crisis.

However, she alleges that she was met with resistance from the medical department from the very beginning, describing an atmosphere of isolation and exclusion.

“The head of the department wouldn’t speak to me, and they told me the players weren’t allowed to know I existed,” she said (h/t Mundo Deportivo).

She claims that despite the tangible benefits of her work, with players reportedly suffering fewer muscle injuries, the hostility only intensified.

“What I kept hearing from the medical department was that nobody wanted to talk to me, that the players supposedly hated me and found me disgusting. Every single day was a battle, and I’d only been there a week,” Gonzalez added.

According to Gonzalez, her experience with the players themselves could not have been more different from her treatment by the staff.

“The players were wonderful and respectful. It was the only place where I felt at peace. It felt like a family. I think they felt sorry for me,” she recalled.

She claims the alleged sabotage of her work was relentless, to the point where players would seek her out away from prying eyes.

“The players would meet me in the parking lot because they already knew what was going on. The sabotage was daily and came from every direction,” she said.

Serious accusations

Gonzalez went on to make a number of grave claims about her treatment, including being falsely accused of stealing a shipment of supplements during her first week, an allegation she says she disproved.

“I fought back and started pulling on every thread. When we got to the source, it was the doctor. I asked for a meeting with Florentino, and he told me to forget about it and let it go,” she claimed.

She also alleged that the environment became so intimidating that she feared for her safety.

“I thought they really could do something to me. They even told me it could become physical. I wasn’t afraid of physical violence as much as I was of the power they had,” she said.

Perhaps her most serious allegation concerned an incident she says took place even after she had left the club, which she described as the moment that ultimately pushed her towards legal action.

“Even after they got what they wanted and I was gone, they kept trying to hurt me. I was ambushed by ten men in a locked room.

“They lectured me and said, ‘For your own good and your family’s, you’re going to keep quiet. We don’t just want to fire you. We want to humiliate you,'” she claimed.

Gonzalez says it was that alleged threat, rather than the dismissal itself, that convinced her to pursue the matter in court.

“If they hadn’t said that, I would have simply filed the lawsuit. You’re going to try to humiliate me and destroy my family? They thought they were stepping on a cockroach, but they ended up facing a lion,” she concluded.

An ongoing legal battle

Gonzalez, who has previously spoken about the toll the experience took on her, filed her complaint for workplace harassment despite what she says was advice not to do so, insisting her motivation is not financial but a desire to clear her name and secure an apology.

The case remains before the courts, and Real Madrid have not publicly responded in detail to the specific claims.