Leganés were still on the Bernabéu pitch close to midnight, long after Real Madrid players and their fans had departed head down and in silence. There were a few hundred of the visiting supporters still in the stadium, joining them in celebration of reaching the Copa del Rey semi-final for the first time in their history – and against the European champions. Zinedine Zidane’s side, already 19 points behind Barcelona in the league, are out of the cup too. Pressure builds and Paris Saint Germain approach: all or nothing on Valentine’s Day.
Marco Asensio had scored a last-minute winner at Butarque in the first leg which gave Madrid an advantage that it was difficult to imagine them relinquishing but a 2-1 defeat saw them knocked out on away goals. They were without Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, Zidane rotating as tends to be the case in the cup, but that was no consolation and no excuse either.