Sergio Ramos sends Aguero tumbling
It’s been a captivating start to the season for the Spanish capital’s principal sides, so what better time then, for the Madrid derby?
Madrid's players congratulate Kaka on his golazo
If I’ve learnt one thing from reading the Spanish press, both sport and political, it’s that the best loved headline is ‘CRISIS’. Whether it be economic, political, football or non-existant, the Iberian press lap it up. It’s been locked on the front pages for the best part of the year in relation to the Spanish economy, and it’s been getting just as much attention in the Madrid Sports dailies in the last few weeks, aimed at the capitals two biggest teams, who face each other tonight.
With Atletico the word, although used a little too frequently, couldn’t be more appropriate. The club are ridden with debt, didn’t buy anyone new in the summer, have only won one league game all season, are already out of the Champions League and are currently in the relegation zone, with the worst defence in the league to boot. Oh, and they’ve just sacked their manager, but so imminent was the departure of Abel Resino that it’s almost not worth mentioning. However ,with Real Madrid the sports press are doing what they do best: exaggerating a small blip to look like a disaster and piling pressure on the manager.
Real had a cracking start to the season, their €220m summer spending spree paying off handsomely, winning their first six league games, with world record signing Cristiano Ronaldo scoring in each. Then came what everyone connected with the club feared – and everyone else was hoping for – an injury to their Portugese galactico. Madrid then lost to title rivals Seville away from home which in reality wasn’t a disastrous result ,and then drew nil-nil at Sporting Gijon. If the knives were being sharpened after a defeat to AC Milan at home in the Champions League then they were well and truly being aimed at new coach Manuel Pelligrini’s back when the Spanish giants were embarrassingly thumped 4-0 in the first round of the Copa Del Rey by lowly Alcorcon, who play two tiers below Real Madrid, in same league as their youth team.
Never mind the fact that as harrowing as the defeat was, the Copa Del Rey was always a third priority, nor that Madrid are still only a point behind Barcelona, as well as in a good position to qualify for the Champions League – this is the club that sacked Fabio Capello after he delivered the first title for four years because he didn’t win it beautifully, and which gave Vicente Del Bosque his marching orders just months after winning the Champions League because he ‘wasn’t a big name’. Then again, when there are two football papers which write around fifteen pages a day solely about Real Madrid, the position of the manager is always going to be talked about.
In terms of historical success, the two clubs are pretty close when compared with the rest of Spain – both clubs are among the top four most successful sides alongside Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona. However when you put them alongside each other, they’re world’s apart. Atleti have won nine league titles (most recently in 1995-96) compared to Real’s colossal thirty one, and can boast just one European trophy, while el equipo blanco have eleven.
In terms of support, the whites outnumber the red and whites in the capital and all over the country, not to mention the world. In Spain, however, it’s very common to support your local team and then to support either Madrid or Barcelona as well, so Atletico can claim to have more genuine fans than Real, and certainly have a greater percentage of local fans. They could also claim to be more loyal – they travel to away games in greater numbers than Real do (although you’ll find the home end of any stadium that Real are playing in awash with local Madridistas) and in my experience, make a lot more noise, and don’t boo their side nearly as much, despite having ample reason to do so. It’s quite common for fans at the Bernabeu to boo their side even when they’re winning, and the stadium has its fair share of tourists and day trippers who don’t really have a clue. But make no mistake, Atletico, like the inferior teams of most big city derbies, are still a colossal club which have their fair share of foreign fans and supporters from outside of their locality, and with waning levels of loyalty, while Real no doubt have a vast number of clued up, loyal fans too.
The champions league games in the week before El Derbi has raised expectations in both camps: Madrid played their best football for several weeks in their 1-1 draw in Milan, while Atletico fought back to get a late 2-2 draw against Premiership leaders Chelsea. Although it wasn’t enough to prevent their exit from the competition, at least they did so with dignity.
Going into the tie Real are the clear favourites. Although they haven’t been as perfect as their fan base demands, they’re fifteen points ahead of their cross town rivals and haven’t lost a derby for over ten years. Nonetheless, there is belief that under new manager Quique Sanchez Flores (incidentally a former Real player) Atletico have improved and some believe the stage is set for an end to the ten year wait. What better inspiration to escape the lows of recent weeks than to beat Madrid, as Kun Aguero so eloquently put it: “it’s an ideal way to get out of our fucked situation”.
So, the stage is set for a partidazo, a great game. I set off early on this cold Saturday night for the Vicente Calderon, home of Atleti, to get a feel for the atmosphere and see if any ticket turns up for reasonable money. Strangely, the derby hadn’t sold out the day before the game. With the cheapest ticket priced at €70 perhaps a lot of Atleti fans thought that it was a lot of money to pay to see their bitter rivals more than likely rub salt into their already seething wounds. In spite of this, the atmosphere leading up to the awfully located stadium doesn’t appear to be tainted at all.
Large groups of fans gathering around the nearby bars are in jovial mood, and whoever thought of selling Alcorcon (the lower division minnows who battered Real last week) scarves is counting his money gleefully, with many home fans adding the village team’s yellow colours to the red and white of their main team.
Closer to the ground the atmosphere has reached fever pitch. Thousands of Atletico fans have been gathered in a square doing ‘botellon’ – binge drinking in the street – for some hours and now the chants of ‘Madridistas, hijos de puta’ (Madrid, sons of whores) are being belted out with some gusto, along with flares and firecrackers. A line of riot police are watching with interest, but there’s no Madridistas to be found round here.
A quick look at the two teams’ stadia and their corresponding surrounding areas speaks volumes about the clientele of each team’s support. Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium is located in the financial district of the city and is surrounded by high rise corporate headquarters and frequented during the week by smartly dressed business people. Atletico’s Vicente Calderon on the other hand is slap bang in the middle of an industrial estate on one side and a motorway on the other. Subsequently the stereotype goes that los pijos – the posh and trendy people of Madrid – follow Real, while los obreros, the workers, support Atleti.
Back outside the ground I do a lap of the stadium and catch the glance of a tout. ‘entrada?’ he whispers. ‘mmm, maybe’ I reply. €100s his offer, and ‘Fuck that’ is my response. He quickly knocks his asking price down to €50, €20 below the face value of the cheapest ticket, and now I’m tempted. Not completely trusting the validity of the ticket I insist he walks round to the entrance with me, and right in front of the security guard he scans the ticket at the turnstyle and takes my money. I’m about to watch one of the biggest footballing derbies in Europe for under the normal price – result.
Despite its hideous surroundings, there’s something rather special about El Calderon. It’s got a simple design of two tiers the whole way round and although it lacks a roof it’s very susceptible to a good atmosphere. This is thanks to the noise made by the boisterous fans behind the goal at the north side of the stadium, Fondo Norte, home to the ‘Frente Atleti’ ultras. The stand is covered with red and white flags and as the game kicks off everyone is on their feet, willing their team on to beat their arrogant neighbours, whose 1000 or so ‘Ultra Sur’ supporters are located at the top of the South Stand. The game begins pretty evenly but soon enough the difference in class shows as Atleti’s defence gets mugged outside their own box by the colossal Diarra and the ball falls into the path of Kaka who quickly dispatches it beautifully into the corner of Atleti’s net. We’re five minutes in and Atleti are already a goal down. It could be a long night.
For all the talk of the hatred between the two sides, a fair few Real fans sitting in the home end erupt when their team scores and seem to get away with it. You can’t do that in many English derbies and although the atmosphere here is pretty good it does lack the bile of other derbies I have been to. The venom however is soon turned up when Real score again, a neat interchange between Benzema and Marcelo fooling the rojiblanco defence before the latter rifles into the roof of the goal. The cocky Brazilian celebrates with a jig and then sticks his tongue out to the home supporters who greet this act of arrogance with a volley of verbal abuse.
The second goal should have come earlier and would have done had it not been for some smart saves from ‘keeper Asenjo who kept out long range efforts from Pepe and Sergio Ramos. Atleti can only muster a couple of poor efforts on goal before the break and as the two teams go into their dressing rooms various scuffles can be seen around the stadium, whether they are between some invasive Madridistas and home fans or just home fans in-fighting isn’t clear, the latter scenario being just as likely in these desperate times.
The home side look slightly better in the second half but then collapse again and hand their rivals a goal on a plate. Centre back Perea collects the ball from his keeper, takes far too many touches and then finds Madrid striker Higuain on his case, who easily dispossesses him and then slots the ball past Asenjo’s legs, piling yet more misery onto Atleti. Moments later the game is stopped as Manuel Pellegrini is seen clutching his face after being hit by an unknown object. He looks more shocked than injured and soon the match restarts with the Chilean still on his feet, shouting orders at his players.
A faint glimmer hope for Atleti arrives in the form of Aguero – said to be slightly injured – from the bench, and his impact is immediate, racing through the Madrid defence only to be stopped by a lunging tackle from Sergio Ramos, who is sent off for his troubles. Moments later a rejuvenated Atleti get a goal when Forlan, so far having a poor game, slots in from close range to give his team a chance. And then a minute later, Atleti get another goal, Aguero racing through the defence again and brushing Pepe off him like a fly and beating Casillas. From 0-3 down to 2-3 in a flash, it’s game on. They’ve got two goals in a minute, surely getting one in the remaining ten is doable?
The crowd roars on its encouragement and the excitement is tangible, if Atleti can get an equalizer it will go down in history as one of the greatest derby comebacks ever. They throw all they have at a worn out Madrid and get a goal, but it’s flagged offside, killing the momentary jubilation. Moments later Simao squanders a close range volley and then Iker Casillas uses his legs to deny Forlan at the death. A minute later the ref’s final whistle brings a familiar sound to the ears of Atleti fans, that of defeat, once again, to their neighbours from the North. The day after the game, Marca’s headline screams ‘Saint Iker saves Pelligrini’ underlining the pressure at this club that demands that only winning is good enough, and even then, sometimes it isn’t.
The ups and downs of this scintillating game paints a perfect portrait of the two teams. In the case of Atletico, at times catastrophic, at times heroic, but, ultimately, a failure. For Real Madrid, the game highlighted the glimmers of brilliance they are capable of, yet warned them of their vulnerability to disaster, yet their ability to take three points out of a testing game. As the sides leave El Calderon, Real are just a point off league leaders Barca, while Atletico remain in the drop zone. How the rest of the season pans out for both sides in their drastically different positions will be fascinating.
