Real Madrid suffered their hardest blow last Wednesday as they were eliminated from the Champions League by Juventus. However, Los Blancos are experts in falling and picking themselves up again. In fact, for the last ten years, they haven’t lost a league game immediately after being knocked out of the European competition.
Last time that happened it was 2005, when Los Merengues lost to Getafe 2-1 a few days after having bend the knee in the last-32 round of the Champions League. Curiously enough, that time they had also been beaten by Juventus.
Since then, Los Blancos have been eliminated eight times in the European competition, since they won the title in 2014, and they have never lost a league game after those eliminations. In those occasions they have earned six victories and two draws, one of them against Espanyol, their rival this Sunday.
Their favourite rival for recovering after a European elimination is Sevilla, a team they trashed in 2012 (2-6) and in 2013 (3-0). Unluckily, Los Blancos will not face the Andalusians this weekend, but the precedents indicate they are likely to succeed in their game against Espanyol
