Real Madrid found itself at the center of one of Spanish football's most enduring jokes on Monday after the club's official channels published training session content in which head coach Alvaro Arbeloa's name inadvertently appeared alongside a training cone, reigniting the legendary rivalry between the former defender and Gerard Pique. The embarrassing blunder, first reported by Mundo Deportivo on January 27, quickly went viral across social media, with fans and pundits alike seizing on the unfortunate juxtaposition that perfectly echoed the most famous insult in the history of La Liga dressing room feuds. Real Madrid reportedly corrected the error within hours, but screenshots had already spread across every major platform.
The incident is impossible to understand without knowing the story behind one of Spanish football's most celebrated pieces of wordplay. In December 2015, after a public spat with Arbeloa over Real Madrid's disqualification from the Copa del Rey for fielding the suspended Denis Cheryshev, Barcelona defender Gerard Pique delivered a masterclass in linguistic mockery during a post-match press conference. When asked about Arbeloa calling him a friend, Pique replied with devastating precision: he stated that Arbeloa had said he was his friend, but he would not consider him a friend, just an acquaintance -- pausing deliberately after the first syllable to say the word as 'cono...cido.' In Spanish, the word 'conocido' means acquaintance or someone you know. But by splitting the word into 'cono' and 'cido,' Pique weaponized a pre-existing fan insult that compared Arbeloa to a training cone, the orange marker that sits motionless on a pitch while players dribble around it.
The genius of the wordplay lay in its plausible deniability. When pressed about the comment days later in Yokohama during the FIFA Club World Cup, Pique doubled down with a grin, saying everyone could interpret it however they wanted and that he had merely said Arbeloa was not a friend but an acquaintance. The deliberate pause between 'cono' and 'cido' left no doubt about his intent, but the literal meaning of the word gave him cover. The nickname 'El Cono' had already circulated among Spanish football fans who mocked Arbeloa's perceived lack of mobility and offensive contribution as a right-back, suggesting he was as useful on the pitch as one of the orange training cones that players practiced dribbling around. Pique's press conference moment elevated the insult from online mockery to immortal football folklore.
The feud between the two Spanish internationals, who won the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 together, escalated throughout 2015 and 2016 with increasingly barbed exchanges on social media and in interviews. Arbeloa responded to the cone insult months later, saying he could explain to the world why he was not Pique's friend and that perhaps Pique would not come off looking very good, adding that the respect Pique lacked for his family was something he showed toward Pique's own family. Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque was forced to intervene, saying it was not great that there were conflicts between them and that he would have to speak to both players. Even Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos publicly told Pique to show respect after the cone remark.
The cone saga was dormant for years until January 12, 2026, when Real Madrid appointed Arbeloa as first-team head coach following the departure of Xabi Alonso. The announcement immediately resurrected the cone memes across Spanish social media. When Arbeloa's debut ended in a humiliating 3-2 Copa del Rey defeat to second-division Albacete on January 14, the floodgates opened. AI-generated images of Arbeloa wearing a cone on his head proliferated across X, fan accounts created tributes including one titled 'Full Metal Cono,' and Pique himself could not resist, reportedly writing in a Kings League group chat simply: 'good debut, 3-2.' Even Cadiz CF joined the mockery by publishing a promotional poster for their match against Albacete featuring an orange traffic cone on a character's utility belt and the caption 'a match of old acquaintances' -- a direct echo of Pique's original wordplay.
The latest blunder by Real Madrid's own official channels adds a new chapter to this decade-long comedy. For the club itself to accidentally place its head coach's name next to the very object that has haunted him since 2015 represents a level of unfortunate irony that even Pique at his most mischievous could not have orchestrated. Social media reactions ranged from disbelief to delight, with Barcelona fans celebrating what they called the greatest own goal in Real Madrid's digital history. Arbeloa, who has shown resilience throughout his playing and coaching career, has yet to publicly comment on the latest incident, though he has previously addressed the cone nickname with characteristic stoicism, stating that those who mocked him in such a way revealed more about themselves than about him.
Despite the cone controversy continuing to follow him, Arbeloa's tenure as Real Madrid coach has shown signs of recovery after the rocky start. Following the Copa del Rey elimination, Real Madrid won three consecutive matches including a dominant 6-1 Champions League victory over AS Monaco, narrowing the La Liga gap to Barcelona to just one point. The coach faces a defining week with a Champions League clash against Jose Mourinho's Benfica on January 28, a reunion with the manager he has called his role model. Whether the cone jokes will ever fade remains to be seen, but the latest Real Madrid blunder has ensured that the most famous piece of wordplay in Spanish football history -- 'cono...cido' -- will continue to echo through stadiums and social media feeds for years to come.
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