Julian Alvarez was met with a chorus of jeers by aggrieved fans on his return to Atletico Madrid amid his attempts to force a move away from the club.
The Argentinian wants to leave the Spanish capital this summer and his been heavily linked with a move to Premier League champions Arsenal, as well as Barcelona.
Atletico, however, continue to insist he is not for sale, with friction growing between player and club.
All eyes were on Atletico’s team sheet to face Villarreal on Sunday to see whether Alvarez would be involved as the club played their first home match of the season.
And while the 26-year-old was named on the bench, this did not mean things had been smoothed over - especially with the Atletico faithful, who sent him a brutal message as soon as he stepped onto the turf.
After being jeered during his warm-up, Alvarez was subjected to deafening whistles by the home supporters as he was brought onto the pitch in the 66th minute.
Seemingly furious with the reception he was given, Alvarez ditched the rest of his team-mates at full-time who were thanking the fans, instead walking straight down the tunnel to more jeers.
Alvarez came on after Villarreal had equalised from the spot, with Gerard Moreno cancelling out Marc Pubill’s opener close to the hour mark.
Another penalty from Georges Mikautadze put the visitors on course for victory before Alvarez’s countryman Giuliano Simeone came to the rescue five minutes from time, with the match ending as a 2-2 draw.
