Atletico Madrid (Spain)

Club Atlético de Madrid was originally founded on 26 April 1903, as Athletic Club de Madrid, by three Basque students living in Madrid. In 1904, members who were not happy with the way things were at Real Madrid joined them. Their first home was Ronda de Vallecas, which was situated in the working-class area to the south of the city. 

In 1919, the Compañía Urbanizadora Metropolitana, which ran the underground communication system in the city, bought some land near the Ciudad Universitaria. They decided to build a sports stadium named Estadio Metropolitano de Madrid. It had a capacity for 35.800 spectators, and from 1923 it was rented by Atlético de Madrid until 1966 when they moved to their new stadium.

Estadio Metropolitano

The club won several regional league titles until they were invited to become a founder member of La Liga in 1928. They suffered a couple of relegations and subsequent promotions during this period. After La Liga resumed after the conflict of the Spanish Civil War in 1939, the club merged with Aviación Nacional of Zaragoza to become Athletic Aviación de Madrid. 

They went on to win La Liga in 1939-40 and 1940-41. In 1941, a decree issued by Franco banned teams from using foreign names, and the club became Atlético Aviación de Madrid. In 1947, the club decided to drop the military association from its name and settled on its current name of Club Atlético de Madrid.

Estadio Vicente Calderon

Two more consecutive tiles followed in 1950 and 1951 before the club entered their “golden age”. They offered the great Real Madrid side serious competition. Between 1961 and 1980, Real Madrid dominated La Liga with the club winning the competition 14 times. During this era, only Atlético offered Real any serious challenge. 

The 55,000 capacity Estadio Vicente Calderon, named after a former club president, was opened in 1966. It was originally called Estadio Manzanares after the river that runs behind the Main Stand. Atletico are nicknamed Los Colchoneros or The Mattress Makers due to their first team stripes being the same colours as old-fashioned mattresses, as well as Los Indios owing to the amount of South American signings in the 1970s.

The side won the league title in 1965-66, 1969-70, 1972-73, and 1976-77. European competition also saw success. Atletico won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1961-62. Fiorentina were defeated 3-0 in a replay at Stuttgart's Neckarstadion after a drawn game at Hampden Park. The side were losing finalists to Tottenham Hotspur the following season. 

My drawing of Estadio Vicente Calderon and former Atletico playing kits
Click on the image to enlarge it

Atletico reached the European Cup final in 1973-74 against Bayern München. A 1-1 draw was followed by a 4-0 win to the Germans, with both games being played at Stade du Heysel in Brussels. The Spanish side included names such as Luis Aragonés, Ramón Heredia, and the captain, Adelardo Rodríguez.

Other star players of the day were Spaniards Adelardo, Javier Irureta, and José Eulogio Gárate, along with Argentinians Rubén Ayala and Panadero Díaz. They were a good side, but extremely uncompromising at the same time. 

During the 1974 European Cup run, in the away leg of the semi-final against Celtic, Atlético had Ayala, Díaz, and substitute Quique all sent off during a hard-fought encounter in what was reported as one of the worst cases of cynical fouling the tournament has seen.

Veteran player Aragonés soon became the club coach. He subsequently served as coach on four separate occasions, between 1974–80, 1982–87, 1991–93 and 2002–03, bringing home the club a league title in 1976-77 and two Copa del Reys, against Real Zaragoza in 1975-76 and Athletic Bilbao in 1984-85.

In 1987, controversial politician and businessman Jesús Gil became club president. He quickly developed a reputation for his ruthlessness in the chase of honours. In pursuit of success, he hired and fired several managers, including César Luis Menotti, Ron Atkinson, Javier Clemente, as well as a returning club legend, Luis Aragonés. 

Clemente led the side to the Copa Del Rey in 1990-91 with a victory against RCD Mallorca, while Gil also closed down the club's youth academy in 1992, which saw Raul leave to move across town and become one of the most legendary names in Spanish football.

In 1995-96, Radomir Antić, with a star-studded squad, delivered the league and cup double, as the Bulgarian, Lyuboslav Penev, top scored, with FC Barcelona being beaten in the final of the Copa Del Rey. Despite this remarkable feat, Antić only lasted two more years as Gil continued his ruthlessness. 

In December 1999, Gil and his board were suspended pending an investigation into the misuse of club funds, with a government-appointed administrator running Atlético's day-to-day operations. This led to a decline that ended in relegation in 1999-00 under manager Claudio Ranieri and two years being spent in Segunda Division.

The second-tier title was secured in 2001-02 as the legendary Aragonés went about putting things right. Around this period, the outstanding young talents of Fernando Torres started coming through. Gregorio Manzano came in as team boss in July 2003, with Javier Aguirre being appointed in May 2006.

Much money was spent on other signings before Torres departed in 2007 for Liverpool. The arrival of Quique Sánchez Flores as coach in 2008-09 saw an improvement in the average form shown, with Atletico going on to win the inaugural Europa League final, previously UEFA Cup, after beating Fulham in the Hamburg final.

On the pitch, Atletico continued to flourish under Diego Simeone, who was appointed as manager in December 2011, as they once again lifted the Europa League in 2011-12 as Athletic Bilbao were defeated in the Bucharest final. The undoubted star of the time was Radamel Falcao.

Atletico followed this up at the start of the 2012-13 season with a 4-1 hammering of Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup, with Falcao bagging a hat trick. The run continued as Real Madrid were defeated 2-1 in the Copa Del Rey Final in May 2013. Falcao was sold to Monaco at the end of the season for a fee of around €60M. 

This didn't stop the team progressing as Simeone continued to weave his magic in 2013-14. After qualifying from the group stage in the Champions League, AC Milan, FC Barcelona, and then Chelsea were knocked out in fine style to set up an all-Madrid final against Real in Lisbon.

Atletico led 1-0 until injury time when Real equalised and then went on to lift the trophy 4-1 after extra time. A massive consolation had already arrived a week earlier on the last day of the La Liga season as a 1-1 draw with FC Barcelona clinched their first title since 1996. The only downside came as more players left the club for huge fees. 

Third place in the league followed a year later, as Antoine Griezmann starred, with the same finish being achieved in 2015-16, which was repeated twelve months later. 2017-18 saw Atletico end as league runners-up, but added to their trophy collection by defeating Olympique de Marseille in the Lyon final of the Europa League.

A Gabi goal was added to by a brace from the outstanding Griezmann. The season also saw the club move from their venue by the Manzanares to Estadio Metropolitano, originally named La Peineta. It had been half built for Spain's failed Olympic hosting bid before the arena, in the San Blas-Canillejas district, was enlarged and got ready for Atletico.

Another second-place league finish ensued, before the La Liga title was secured in 2020-21 with Luis Suárez top scoring. He was succeeded up front the following season by fellow Argentinian Ángel Correa as the side finished third in the league on several occasions.

Alexander Sørloth led the scoring charts when that finish was achieved in 2024-25.

Atletico Madrid will be playing in La Liga in the 2025-26 season.

My visit

Atletico Madrid 1 Racing Ferrol 2 (Sunday 8th October 2000) Segunda Division

In 2000, I decided to go on a tour of Europe by railway. The day after the final game at the "old" Wembley, I took a flight to Madrid to start my adventure, hoping to quickly forget England's defeat to Germany. I had a brief look around Madrid after finding accommodation in a very basic pension for the evening before venturing towards the stadium.

I had done plenty of research before I set off to add to my basic knowledge of Madrid's football landscape, as well as which sights would be worth seeing. I found out that Real Madrid is seen as the club of the establishment, whereas Atletico are looked upon as having a sense of rebellion. 

Ironically, Atletico were originally the favoured team of the Franco regime, until their preferences moved to Real, probably when Atletico dropped their previous military links. Real is not the most favourite team amongst other sides in Spain because of their perceived favouritism from the establishment. Atletico fans are thought to be the originators. 

They are the most frequent singers of the song "Hala Madrid, hala Madrid, el equipo del gobierno, la verguenza del país" meaning "Go Madrid, go Madrid, the government's team, the country's shame". They really do not like them!

I was fortunate that Atletico were playing. It was an international weekend, but the club had been relegated to the Segunda Division the previous year, so they went ahead with a game with an 8pm kick-off on the Sunday night. After alighting at Piramides and walking for about ten minutes, I found a bar within sight of the ground and took in the evening sun. 

I got talking to an expat Everton fan, which was useful for guidance on buying a ticket. I ended up paying the equivalent of around £8 for a seat in the upper tier behind the goal. Atletico's opponents were Racing Ferrol from the north west of the country. They sprang a surprise and beat Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and his teammates 2-1 to the delight of the small scattering of away fans.

The stadium was a great place to watch football, especially in nice weather. It was D-shaped with one continuous huge unroofed double-decker stand curving round three sides of the pitch, with a stand-alone Main Stand towering over the pitch, with the river running behind it. The seats offered a great view and are all in red and white stripes to match the team's shirts.

The facilities in common with many other continental grounds were basic on the concourses. I grabbed a beer and a bag of crisps. There were no programmes, and fans seemed to use the newspaper as a guide to the teams. 

The fans were passionate and made their feelings well known depending on the state of the game. I'd heard that it is a rough place to visit on European nights as an away fan, and I can well believe that. However, on my visit, everything was fine and I'd jump at the chance of a return.

Rather than heading to a bar after the game, I looked after my budget, bought some food and returned to my accommodation at Noche y Dia, whose convenient location near Atocha railway station was certainly an upgrade on its comfort.

The images of Estadio Metropolitano have been sourced online.