“Atleti, Atleti, Atlético de Madrid/Jugando, ganando, peleas como el major/porque siempre la afición/se estremece con passion/cuando quedas entre todos campeón…” Expectations were high in the Vicente Calderón football stadium at 21.00 last night. It was the derby. Atlético (my team), though again having a poor season, now had it in their hands to snatch the coming title from the hands of their arch-rivals, Real Madrid. It was a full house, with 58,000 people. It was the last home game of the season. The weather was warm, even though there’d been showers in the afternoon. The talent on display was second to none – Ronaldo, Zidane, Figo, Raúl – most of it, unfortunately, on the other side. The atmosphere was humming at the kick off, and continued to hum for all of six minutes, when we saw Ronaldo’s smartly-taken first goal go in. The final score was 0-4 to Real Madrid, two goals apiece for Ronaldo and Raúl, with Atlético as good as gifting them the title and playing some truly horrific football into the bargain. Nobody cried: they’d seen it all before. (They did cry in Vigo, though, where Celta - with Atlético’s help - were putting paid to Real Sociedad’s chances of winning the title for the first time in more than 20 years.) The rain came down heavily and many scuttled for cover. When they came back, we all sung a couple of Atleti songs to seal our national reputation as the best supporters in Spain (the cliché has it that the team doesn’t deserve us) and then the final whistle blew. “0-4 against Real Madrid,” Abraham muttered glumly as we walked away from the ground. (Abraham hasn’t missed a home game all season.) “That’s a very serious result.” Gil, the flamboyantly corrupt president, is on the way out, with Enrique Cerezo in his shoes, for the time being at least; they’re desperate for cash; they play shocking football. 0-4. Bloody hell. Will I renew my season ticket next year? Probably: at least we’re back in the first division. I’ll be interested to see what the Atlético Rules blog, as far as I can see the only English-language site dedicated to matters rojiblanco, has to say about this sorry state of affairs.
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