All posts tagged: Champions League match

Will the Spirit of Juanito help Real Madrid turnaround against Arsenal at Bernabéu?

Will the Spirit of Juanito help Real Madrid turnaround against Arsenal at Bernabéu?

Black and white portraits of a handsome man with sharp jawline, piercing eyes and thick black hair stare from the fluttering flags in Santiago Bernabéu, whenever Real Madrid needs to bounce back in a two-legged tie. The face on the flag is former winger and captain Juan Gomez, or fondly called Juanito. His numbers were humble—85 goals in 284 games; he barely enters the conversation of Real Madrid’s greats and galacticos; but for the club tragic, his name stirs a deeper emotion and identity. Juanito embodies Real Madrid’s indefatigability to stir rousing comebacks. The players and fans call it Espiritu Juanito; or the spirit of Juanito, even though his son had pleaded with the supporters to leave his father’s memories alone. The myth, with obvious flourishes passed on by time and the colourful life he lived off the field, goes that he scribbled his ten commandments required to overturn a 2-0 deficit against Celtic in the quarterfinal and read it out in the team bus en route to the stadium. Buoyed by a typically spirited …