After his takeover in 2018, the early enthusiasm has long gone, and so mostly has he. Now he wants to get on his bike

At the end of training on Friday, as Real Valladolid’s players left the annex next to the José Zorrilla stadium and headed off under grey skies, rain preparing to roll in, a surprise waited for them. It was the final session before the weekend their coach said would show what hopes they had, an opportunity not so much to save their season as still have one, and there was he was: the Original Ronaldo, in the flesh. He came to encourage them, he said, going round the dressing room reminding them what it means to be committed, always. “Thank you for accompanying the team before the Valencia game!” the club tweeted, exclamation included. The Brazilian, after all, is one of the greatest footballers ever.

He is also their owner and president. But still this was unexpected: they hadn’t seen him for months and didn’t think they would see him now either. He had been in the directors’ box for Valladolid’s first game of the season, which they had won, and when they played Real Madrid at the Bernabéu the following week too, which they hadn’t. Since then, as they watched their team slide towards the second division, abandoned to an increasingly inevitable fate, he hadn’t been back. “Where is the president?” supporters had sung. One day in November, while they were playing Getafe, he was playing tennis. They knew that because he had broadcast it on Twitch. So the following week, they set up a game in the stands, giant foam rackets hitting a ball back and forth.

In the end, two outstretched hands were decisive. The first, from Bruno Fernandes, probably denied Manchester United their victory; the second, from André Onana, definitely denied Real Sociedad theirs.

United deservedly got themselves into a first-leg lead when Joshua Zirkzee guided a side-footed shot beyond Alex Remiro that appeared to set them up for a win and potentially even one big enough to virtually see them through. But an eagle eye and a video replay revived their Basque opponents, allowing Mikel Oyarzabal to equalise from the spot with 20 minutes left and in the last of those they nearly scored again. Which was when a figure in yellow flew to the rescue.

The Real Sociedad and Spain keeper on old teammates, new challenges and how Manchester United inspired him

Sometimes it’s the detail that stays with you. Alex Remiro can’t remember the brand, but he can still see the colour, the way they looked, how much he liked them. “When I was a kid, if you became a goalkeeper it was because you were an Iker Casillas fan, because you were the biggest, or because no one else wanted to do it,” he says. Or because one day in Cascante, Navarre, a friend turns up with a pair of gloves: brand new, grey and very, very cool. “I was like: ‘Hey, let me have a go.’ I went in goal and, well, I never left again.”

Now he is a European champion with Spain; a Copa del Rey winner with Real Sociedad, their first trophy in 34 years, albeit one won in an empty stadium and a year late, a sadness to the celebration they had to have without the fans and with a single family member each; and no one in La Liga has kept more clean sheets this season. And the way he tells it, that’s thanks in part to Manchester United, their opponents on Thursday, and the team who taught la Real a lesson. Literally, he says.