Real Madrid taunt Arsenal on social media before Champions League showdown

The mind games began almost as soon as the final whistle at the Emirates Stadium sounded.

Real Madrid's players and manager tripped over themselves to declare their confidence about a comeback against Arsenal following their Champions League quarter-final first leg defeat. "If there's a team that can turn around a 3-0 loss, it's Real Madrid," Lucas Vazquez declared, echoing the same sentiment expressed by Raul Asencio, Kylian Mbappe and Carlo Ancelotti.

Jude Bellingham doubled down on that stance one day before the much-anticipated clash at the Santiago Bernabeu, insisting this very scenario was "tailor-made" for a club with Real Madrid's illustrious history.

"Noventa minuti en el Bernabeu son molto longo" was the mangled Italian phrase which the legendary Madrid midfielder Juanito came up back in 1985. Inter had won the first leg of a UEFA Cup semi-final 2-0 at San Siro, but the outspoken Spaniard wasn't deterred. "90 minutes in the Bernabeu is a very long time.

Madrid romped to a 3-0 victory in the return leg in front of their home fans, giving birth to the 'Spirit of Juanito' - the idea that, to use Bellingham's phrase, "if there's one place where crazy things can happen it's our house".

As Michel, the former Madrid midfielder who scored in that Inter comeback 40 years ago, once said: "The history of Real Madrid is full of games won in the last minute and the opposition knows that. History matters, history plays. No one knows why but you pull on that Real Madrid shirt and you become a mini Incredible Hulk."

Not everyone is so keen on the idea of relentlessly harking back to the past. Juanito's son Roberto offered some hope for Arsenal with his warning a few years ago: "Every time you mention him for a comeback, we lose."

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