The Quint in Milan: Lisbon Forgotten as Atletico Face Real Madrid
Fans of the Spanish crosstown rivals have descended on Italy for the Champions League final.
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‘Cholismo’ is sweeping through the streets of Milan, the host city for the 2016 UEFA Champions League final, the culmination of the European club season. At central station, Alfredo Fraile, an American consultant with roots in the Spanish capital is the first to point out that Atletico Madrid are the favorites to win the final. “Real Madrid doesn’t have an identity,” he says succinctly.
Atletico’s fans have unified in the cult that surrounds their coach ‘El Cholo.’ They rally behind Diego Simeone. Alfredo Fraile has travelled from Miami to witness the possible coronation of a club both his grandfather and father supported as well. He has forked out plenty of dollars to forget the simmering disappointment of the 2014 Lisbon final.
“That was horrible,” recalls Enrique Palomares, 17, who has travelled to Milan with his father and two brothers. “If Sergio Ramos hadn’t scored that header Atletico would have been champions.”
“Why is Simeone’s style terrible?” asks Enrique. “He plays with the means we have. For us, his philosophy is a religion.” After that final a swat of key players, including Thibaut Courtois and Diego Costa, left Atletico Madrid. The Argentina coach has rebuild the team with the only method he knows: drill his charges with much rigor, instill them with resilience. Atletico hasn’t fallen by the wayside as Dortmund and other top clubs have done after a player exodus.
“Atletico has become a better side since Lisbon,” says Nacho Traberti, who is savoring the pre-match build up in front of Milan’s famed Doumo with his friend and Real Madrid fan Roberto Tamayo. “Oblack is as good a goalkeeper as Courtois. Antoine Griezmann and Fernando Torres are great strikers. Physically Atletico is in a much better shape.”
Simeone doesn’t consider the new final between the crosstown rivals as a moment for revenge, rather he considers it as a new opportunity. The Argentine’s sense of psychological management speaks to a broader truth: Atletico defeated both Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona, arguably the best teams in the world, on their way to the final. They are not the underdogs.
For Madrid fans, who have enjoyed ten European cup victories, a nagging fear that Real may falter in the final persists. The proud club from the Spanish capital had a difficult season with Rafael Benitez’s failed spell at the helm before novice coach Zinedine Zidane took over. The Frenchman has implemented a 4-3-3 formation, but, so far, with limited success.
“The 2014 team was better,” assesses Tamayo. “We had Di Maria and an experienced coach with Carlos Ancelotti. Zidane has done a great job. He has a good rapport with the top players and has fixed a broken team.”
Simeone highlighted Brazilian midfielder Casemiro as a key player in the match, giving Real both defensive and attacking solidity. “The match may turn around him,” agrees Tamayo. He is secretly confident of victory, buoyed by Madrid’s historical heritage in the competition. Atletico fans revel in the antagonism so embodied by Simeone. He cares neither about beautiful football nor entertaining, he simply wants to win.
‘It’s simply our way to win and I will die winning this way,” concludes Traberti.
As Tamayo and his friend Traberti turn away and mingle with other fans on a rambunctious afternoon in Milan’s city centre among thousands of other club zealots and partisans fans - each club was allocated 20,000 tickets, their renewed rivalry can only have two outcomes: La Undecima for Real Madrid and eternal glory for Atletico Madrid.