When times are tough at the Santiago Bernabeu, and a comeback is needed, the spirit of Juanito is summoned.

For those who don’t know, Juanito was a former Real Madrid player who was adored at the club, noted for a real never-say-die attitude, and a true fighting spirit (in more ways than one).

Real Madrid lost the quarter-final first leg of the 1979-80 European Cup 2-0 to Celtic, but came back at home in the second leg, with Juanito scoring the third goal in a 3-0 triumph.

Comebacks like this became known as very much a Real Madrid thing, with Juanito starring in others, over Borussia Monchengladbach, Anderlecht and Inter Milan in the years that followed.

Madrid had gone down 2-0 to Inter at the San Siro and that’s when Juanito uttered the words that have lived on until this day.

Per Sid Lowe’s Fear and Loathing in La Liga book, Juanito said “in Italian that was half-invented, half-Spanish with an ‘Italian’ accent: ‘noventi minuti en el Bernabeu son molto longo‘.”

Or, in English: “90 minutes at the Bernabeu is a very long time.”

They certainly can be, and proved to be on this occasion for Inter, who lost 3-0.

Juanito was also a madman, a lunatic. He was banned for five years from European games for a brutal assault on Lothar Matthaus.

He sadly died in a car accident in April 1992, and Madrid fans have called upon the “spirit of Juanito” ever since.

The stats show that this is by and large, irrelevant, as Real Madrid have now failed to comeback from a first-leg deficit 15 times in a row in major cup competitions.

But, regardless, the spirit of Juanito prevails. Madrid-based daily AS’ correspondent (read: chief Real Madrid fan) Tomas Roncero, tried to summon it using an Ouija board earlier this season.

They had lost 2-0 to Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey, so Roncero “made contact with Juanito” and said the former player told him that Madrid would mount a “remontada” or comeback, in the second leg, to win 3-0. They didn’t.

Jose Mourinho, while Real Madrid coach, wasn’t impressed with the whole carry-on, and refused to be in a video produced by the club after they lost 4-1 to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in 2013.

Real Madrid wanted to invoke the spirit of Juanito, of course, but Mourinho prefered to focus on the football instead. He said, per The Guardian:

I did not want to do the video because I think the best way to motivate the fans is with football. You motivate them by playing well, being serious. I know who Juanito is and I respect that. People work in other areas at the club and they think [a video] is good. I am a football coach, that is how I motivate them. They do videos, I do football. The best way to motivate the fans [would have been] to get a better result in Dortmund.

Mourinho being nonplussed, at best, angered, at worst, by the idea of the spirit of Juanito, is appropriate, because Saturday’s game against Valencia still harked back to the coach’s era at the club.

It was under the Portuguese that an element of Madrid’s fans fell out of love with goalkeeper Iker Casillas, a row that has rumbled on ever since.

Casillas was left fuming during the 2-2 draw at the Bernabeu when the fans behind his goal whistled him, after he should have done better with Paco Alcacer’s opener.

“That’s enough, for f—‘s sake,” he said, per Sport, to Madrid fans behind his goal.

Whether they like Casillas or not, they have to accept that when they take on Juventus on Wednesday night, he will be between the sticks.

When they take on Juventus, the Italian champions, boosted by the return of Paul Pogba, the presence of over 4,000 fans and a 2-1 lead from the home leg in Turin, they need to get behind the team.

The time for whistles and complaints is over. Put them on hold.

In the second half against Valencia, Real Madrid launched a comeback, earning a draw from two goals down. It was not enough, but the front pages of AS and Marca hailed the spirit the team showed.

That is the spirit they need against Juventus. The shouted support the fans offered Gareth Bale, when he was fighting off three Valencia players in the corner of the pitch, rather than the whistles he is usually served up.

That is the spirit they need. Not the spirit of Juanito.

from Bleacher Report – Front Page http://ift.tt/1Ffkg8l
via IFTTT http://ift.tt/eA8V8J