In the hours immediately after Real Madrid’s 3-0 defeat to Arsenal, their chastened players insisted on making a point. They started posting on social media about how it’s not over, which may seem the sort of banality that modern stars do, but was actually part of something more concerted.
It is a modern version of the first of club legend Juanito’s 10 requirements for “remontadas” - in what is essentially the club’s playbook for such moments - which is to already start talking about beating the opposition on the bus back for the first leg. The former winger became synonymous with comebacks due to a series of epics in the 1980s, and his name is going to be invoked a lot over the next few days. The Madrid industrial complex has already started cranking into gear to create “ambiente de remontada” - a comeback atmosphere.
