Real Madrid rarely does subtle. From European nights soaked in drama to the marble and steel glow of the renovated Bernabéu, spectacle is the norm. So it makes sense that their new third kit for 2025–26 doesn’t whisper its arrival. It roars.
The club’s latest offering from Adidas is a bold royal blue, a hue familiar to Madridistas who remember La Décima, yet newly charged with meaning. At first glance, it’s a clean design: white trim, retro zigzag Adidas stripes on the shoulders, and a diagonal tonal pattern that ripples across the body like echoes in the Bernabéu stands.
But the real weight is stitched inside.
Tucked within the collar is a patch bearing one of the most iconic lines in club lore: “90 minuti en el Bernabéu son molto longo.” Translated, “90 minutes at the Bernabéu is a very long time.”
That quote belongs to Juanito, the late Madrid legend whose words embodied the club’s defiance during a famous 1985 UEFA Cup comeback. The inclusion of that phrase transforms this third kit into more than just a change strip. It becomes a wearable artifact of Real Madrid’s mythology.
Between nostalgia and modern swagger
Adidas’s design pulls off a delicate balancing act. The tonal diagonal pattern mirrors the layout of the stadium’s new seating, subtly tying the shirt to the reimagined Bernabéu itself. And while the zigzag shoulder stripes are a first for any elite Adidas kit, they’re lifted straight from the brand’s heritage playbook, a wink to the Trefoil era, which also makes a comeback on the chest.
The blue? Not just any blue. It matches both the Bernabéu’s iconic seats and Adidas’s classic shoeboxes. It also recalls the 2013–14 away kit worn during the club’s pursuit of La Décima, Real’s 10th European Cup.
This is intentional layering. A kit designed not just to look good under lights, but to feel steeped in meaning.
Fan reaction has been predictably charged. Many adore the shirt’s visual punch and symbolism, although some preferred the earlier, darker leak and lamented the added stripes and textures. You can’t please everybody.
Still, even skeptics softened once they saw Vinícius Jr. modeling the shirt. And when the Juanito quote emerged, even hardened kit critics paused. As one fan put it, “Now I kind of have to get it.”
This is the trend across Adidas’s elite third kits for 2025–26: a return to old logos, classic colorways, and local storytelling. Arsenal brought back a maroon cannon. Bayern has a 1960s crest. But Real Madrid did something more daring. They embedded a feeling. A warning. A promise.
You wear this kit and you’re not just repping Madrid. You’re stepping into a myth.
First chance fans may see it live? August 24, away to Oviedo. And maybe soon after, in Europe. Because this isn’t a shirt built for midweek cup ties, it’s made for nights that feel like eternity.
