Mats Hummels has played down the hostile reception Borussia Dortmund supporters gave him during Saturday’s clash against Wolfsburg.
The Borussia Dortmund captain was greeted with a chorus of jeers and boos at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday during Dortmund’s dominant 5-1 win.
The frosty atmosphere was in response to the confirmation earlier this week that the defender put in a transfer request to rejoin rivals Bayern Munich, where he began his professional career.
WATCH: Borussia Dortmund fans have completely turned on Mats Hummels https://t.co/ynPEqV3Zky
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 30, 2016
Hummels played down the reception he received on Saturday to sport1.de. The centre-back claimed that it was not as bad as it sounded on the live broadcast and only a small minority of the crowd were booing him.
The German World Cup winner admitted he understood why they were upset with him, but also believes that those who took part in the jeering were nothing more than fake fans.
“They were not the real fans. They were just a group of about 300 who never really loved me in the first place, and they just used this as a stage to vent their anger. I could see who it was coming from.”
“It is okay for me. Emotions belong to the game, but I want to emphasise that it wasn’t 80,000, it wasn’t even 8,000.”
