Four Real Madrid stars spoke in dressing room after Arsenal defeat

Real Madrid suffered an unusually chastening defeat in the Champions League on Tuesday night against Arsenal, losing 3-0 to two Declan Rice strikes complemented by a third fine finish from Mikel Merino. While Los Blancos have suffered heavy defeats in Europe previously, rarely have they been so heavy in the first leg, leaving them with a tall task even by their standards. It has been revealed that after the game, Jude Bellingham, Fede Valverde, Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe spoke to the rest of the squad in the dressing room after the game.

The general atmosphere, as described by El Chiringuito, was one of surprise and shock. Valverde was the first to speak, asking ‘what happened to us?’ However the message which followed, was that the players had to demonstrate who they are, to show their DNA and show that ‘we are Real Madrid’. Their sense of the identity came to the fore throughout the post-defeat speeches, with the rest of the squad reminded that ‘we have 15 Champions Leagues’.

The message looking ahead to the second leg was already one focused on a comeback. ‘If we score in the first 15 minutes, we come back’ – ‘we will come back’ was the final phrase that was uttered from the motivational speech, and that was met with a round of applause by the rest of the dressing room.

During their press duties after the match, Jude Bellingham noted that if there is one venue that tends to host miraculous comebacks, then it is the Santiago Bernabeu, despite a general frustration. Meanwhile Mbappe looked almost baffled by the suggestion that they could not come back as he left the stadium. The bad news is that although Dani Ceballos did part of their training session on Thursday, he and Ferland Mendy are both set to miss the second leg against Arsenal.