Atletico vs Real, part 2
Champions League Final 2016
Two years later and the Champions League Final has the same two finalists from the same city. So what’s changed in two years?
In that time, Real Madrid have sacked their managers twice, Carlo Ancelotti, who they won the 2014 Champions League with, and Rafa Benítez. Although they still have the two most expensive players in the world with Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Atletico Madrid have kept their manager, Diego Simeone, but have had many changes in players.
Some things however, don’t change: the profile of their respective supporters has remained much the same. Two years ago I wrote an article previewing the final from the point of view of someone who lives in Madrid but didn’t grow up there. There’s not much I’d change in that assessment. Whilst Atletico supporters remain broadly similar to supporters of many football clubs in the world - loyal to their club in victory or defeat (albeit for Atletico fans, with more of the former than the latter in recent years); Real supporters tend to be far less forgiving when their team are not winning by huge margins in every match.
The other day I was talking with a friend and we decided that it might not be a coincidence that the vast majority of fans of bullfighting in Spain are also fans of Real Madrid. Both bullfighting and Real Madrid attract the more conservative minded sector of Spanish society. Bullfighting is not known for its parity between the participants: the bull and the torero. There is nearly always only one winner - the one with the sharp spikes, pointy swords and infinitely more evolved brain. However, that doesn’t prevent Las Ventas, the 25,000 capacity bullring in Madrid, from selling out every night during May for the San Isidro bull fighting festival. Perhaps the Real Madrid fans go to the Bernabeu with the same mentality as they go to Las Ventas. Unless they see their team dominate and humiliate the opposition they won’t have had a satisfactory experience. Fortunately, football is much more of a sport than bullfighting is, and the outcome of any given match is not so preordained. One of the reasons non-Real Madrid fans like seeing Real lose is the pleasure they get in seeing their fans unrealistic expectations confounded by the natural order of things; i.e. that losing is a part of sport.
The Champions League Final this coming Saturday, like any competitive sporting event, is a difficult match to predict the result of. Real have the pedigree and experience in these occasions, but Atletico have the head to head advantage in recent years, they are not so much the underdog as two years ago. And, as they have proved many times, this team are capable of anything under Simeone.
My prediciton? My head and my heart say Atletico.