The defeat was harsh, the worst of the season due to the scenario and timing, and it showed in the demeanor of the Real Madrid players on their way back to the bus taking them to the airport in London. Heads down, silence, some expressions of helplessness, and a message from Kylian Mbappé: "Of course we can," replied the French forward when asked about the possibility of overturning the 3-0 result imposed by Arsenal.
Promising a magical night was all that was left for the Madrid dressing room after such a match. That, silence, and serious faces. Accepting the defeat. That's what they did in the mixed zone. Vinicius handed the match jersey to an acquaintance waiting at the bus door and did not even want to consider the option of turning the result around.
Rodrygo and Valverde nodded, more out of inertia than conviction, and Modric just made a small gesture that was understood as "seems difficult." Only Mbappé was somewhat more precise, although none of the Madrid stars stopped for the special envoys. Neither the Frenchman, nor Vinicius, nor Rodrygo, nor Valverde... Not even Modric, the team captain.
And the numbers don't lie. A quick look at the match statistics shows the huge difference between the two teams. While Arsenal ran 113.9 kilometers, Madrid only managed 101.2. While Arsenal recovered 34 balls, Madrid only managed 26. While Arsenal initiated 52 attacks, Madrid barely managed 31... And so on with a myriad of statistics.
Lucas Vázquez spoke up, who had already appeared on Movistar+ alongside Asensio and Courtois, and reiterated in the mixed zone. "If there is a team in the world that can turn this around, it's us," said the Galician, who was a substitute at the start and replaced Modric in the second half. "We can make history," he suggested.
Bellingham: "We need to be honest and humble"
Earlier, Jude Bellingham did stop with TNT Sports, which holds the broadcasting rights. The Englishman is usually a regular in the Anglo-Saxon post-match, thus avoiding having to speak to the Spanish media. In his more comfortable language, the Madrid midfielder made a quite harsh reflection on his team's performance, stating that "the same thing has been happening all season, although today it was on a large scale."
"We are very disappointed, we have to look only at ourselves. We can't make excuses or anything like that. It's been happening all season, where we have let many points slip away, but today on a large scale. We will need to talk because we will need something special to turn this around," he argued.
For the former Dortmund player, one of the keys was how Arsenal surpassed Madrid's first line of pressure. "They did a good job analyzing how we were going to press them, they made some changes in the way they progressed. We have to give them credit, they were brilliant. They had many opportunities beyond direct free kicks and could have hurt us much more. We need to be honest and humble, accept this, and anything can happen in the return leg," he said.
However, he emphasized that "we have to give something to our fans." "Because they can't support us in what happened today, and I understand that perfectly. At home, we have to react to do something special. If there is a place where something like this can happen, it's in our home," he concluded.
Madrid left London close to British midnight with Ancelotti asking, a few seconds earlier, not to throw "everything in the trash." The Italian coach, who had previously stated that "what matters is that the most important person at the club doesn't get tired of me," took responsibility for the defeat but also insisted that they had "a good first hour of the match."