It’s Champions League week, and Real Madrid are pursuing glory again. It’s the competition that they love most, that drives them on, seeking to repeat the feats of Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskas, Raúl and Zinédine Zidane, now Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. It stirs the supporters, who throng around the Real bus when it inches towards the Bernabeu on match day, holding up their flares, chanting passionately, reverentially. “It’s incredible,” smiles Bale of the fans’ obsession with the Champions League, of the club’s annual mission.

“Even when we were in the Champions League with Tottenham, the bus goes in almost silently, but here it’s like the whole stadium is around our bus,’’ Bale says. “They’re kicking off, not crazy, but in a good way.