Atletico Madrid VS Real Madrid: The Eternal Tug of War for the Madrid’s Soul | OneFootball

The Madrid derby means you’re either red and white or white, Atletico or Real. Passionate or allegedly glory hunting. Regardless of the size of the respective clubs, the history, the trophies, or the success, when they step onto the pitch for the Madrid derby, it’s simply 90 minutes of passion and fight.

From the days of Real Madrid merging with smaller regional clubs in Madrid in the early 20th century to a former Atletico Madrid Head Coach being arrested for being a communist, here is everything you need to know about the Madrid derby through the years ahead of Saturday afternoon’s crunch match in La Liga.

The history of the Madrid derby and how it was born

We go all the way back to the start of the 1900s, where the rivalry began. Madrid football club, now known as Real Madrid, was founded in 1902, whilst Atlético Madrid, initially known as Athletic Club Madrid, was founded in 1903.

Madrid FC were known back then for being the powerhouse of Spanish football, merging with the local clubs around them and taking the best players and nobody could stop them from dominating and due to them merging with those smaller sides, it meant those sides who were originally independent and had their own supporters basically went bust due to the lack of financial resources compared to Madrid FC.

The exception to this was Athletic Club Madrid, who were the ‘child’ of Athletic Club de Bilbao, and they were able to keep their best players thanks to the funding of Athletic Club.

The supporters who originally vanished after Madrid FC basically took their club away by merging chose to become Athletic Club Madrid supporters since they were the last club standing that was capable of challenging the dominance of Madrid FC in the Spanish capital and due to the merging, it meant those who went on to support Athletic Club Madrid grew a dislike for Madrid FC which therefore triggered the rivalry to be born.

Athletic Club Madrid separated from Athletic Club but kept the name Athletic Madrid until after the Spanish Civil War. They later renamed themselves Atletico Aviación, which was associated with the Spanish military air force. However, the club’s alleged preference for the regime was subject to discussion. Following their first League title success in 1940, Head Coach Ricardo Zamora was sent to prison on charges that he was a communist.

Despite the arrest of Zamora, in that time period in the 1930s, Atletico Aviación became the most successful side in Spanish football, which helped reduce the historical gap with Madrid FC, which later became Real Madrid FC after the King of Spain in 1921 recognised them as one of his favourite clubs. The second Spanish Republic chose to rescind this in 1931, but it was restored nine years later in 1940 by Francisco Franco.

There was once again a regime shift in the 1950s which favoured Real Madrid again after Atletico Aviación’s success in the 1930s and 1940s. This was because Francisco Franco sought to make political capital out of Real Madrid’s European cups, which the club won four times between 1955/56 and 1958/59, with Spain internationally isolated at the time. One minister once said about the Spanish giants:

This therefore saw the Atlético supporters chant “El equipo del gobierno, la vergüenza del país” which means “The team of the government, the shame of the country.” This saw Atletico allegedly adopt a more left-wing slant, tempered by the rise of ultra culture and also the presence of Rayo Vallecano being the true ‘leftist’ club in Madrid.

The Madrid derby as a game and general rivalry didn’t really gain the attention of foreigners until 1959, when Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, who had been renamed from Atlético Aviación in 1947, met in a European Cup semi-final. Real Madrid defeated their rivals 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu 2-1, before Atlético Madrid went on to win the 2nd leg 1-0 at the original Metropolitano, which saw the tie go to a replay. Real Madrid went on to win 2-1.

Despite losing in the European Cup Semi Final in 1959, Atlético Madrid did get revenge over their rivals in 1960 and 1961 when they beat Real Madrid in two consecutive Copa del Generalisimo finals, now known as the Copa del Rey, under former Real Madrid coach José Villalonga.

During the 1970s, Atlético Madrid was once again the most successful Spanish club of the decade. Due to the successful period Atlético had, Real Madrid fans chose to look down at their rivals and refer to them and their supporters as “Indios”, which translates to “Indians”. This was in reference to Atlético Madrid choosing to sign players from Latin American backgrounds.

At the time Real Madrid weren’t keen on signing such players and the then club President, Santiago Bernabéu, chose not to sign Eusebio in the 1960s, stating that:

After Real Madrid fans gave Atlético Madrid the nickname ‘Indios’, their supporters joyfully accepted it, and apparently, it is still used to this day.

Between 1961 and 1989, the only real challenge to Real Madrid’s title dominance in La Liga was Atlético Madrid. The latter were able to win titles in 1966, 1970, 1973 and 1977.

In 1965, Atlético Madrid ended Real Madrid’s eight-year unbeaten run at the Santiago Bernabéu by beating them in the Madrid derby, seen as the 2nd biggest game in Spanish football behind El Clásico.

The class and cultural differences

The Santiago Bernabéu is located near banks and businesses in the capital of Spain and is the upper-class part of the city. The old Atlético Madrid stadium, Vicente Calderón, which was used between October 1966 and May 2017, was located near a brewery, the Manzanares River, and that famous motorway that went underneath one of the stands at the stadium.

Real Madrid draws more crowds due to their far greater success historically, whereas Atlético Madrid is seen to have more of a working-class fanbase based in the south of Madrid that isn’t as big, although recent success over the last decade or so under Diego Simeone has helped them also grow a bigger international fanbase.

The Atletico Madrid crest has a reference to the Coat of Arms, which represents the city of Madrid. However, Real Madrid doesn’t have such a reference to their crest and instead, it’s a reference to the Castile region.

The rivalry in the modern era

Real Madrid is known for their European success, having won 15 Champions League trophies over the years. Atlético Madrid have reached three finals but have never won, which includes two defeats against bitter rivals Real Madrid in 2014 and 2016.

The Champions League final at the Estadio da Luz in 2014 will be one that will forever hurt Diego Simeone and Atlético Madrid supporters until they win the competition. Diego Godin got the big goal to give Atleti the lead after 36 minutes. From there, they defended incredibly well, and they were so resilient. Then came the 90th minute, where the magic struck at the right moment for Real Madrid, with Sergio Ramos equalising in the 90th minute to take it into extra time. Real Madrid went on to win 4-1, where the Atlético Madrid spirit was truly killed when Ramos scored in that moment.

Atlético Madrid, at least from their perspective, have many Europa League titles, winning three, with the last one coming in 2018 against Olympique de Marseille. Real Madrid beat Liverpool in the Champions League final that same season, and at the beginning of the 2018/19 season, they met in a Madrid derby in the UEFA Super Cup. Atleti went on to beat Real Madrid 4-2 after extra time, thanks to goals from Diego Costa (x2), Saúl Ñíguez, and Koke. Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos scored the two Real Madrid goals on the night.

In recent times in the Madrid derby, there has also been a fair amount of controversy, which includes that ‘double tap’ penalty from Julian Alvarez in the Champions League Round of 16 last season. Atlético Madrid still feels an injustice from that to this day and hopes to secure revenge when they meet with Real Madrid again on Saturday

conclusion

A rivalry with interesting history, plenty of taunting, success, intensity, delight and heartbreak along the way. The Madrid derby is a fixture that will always be full of intrigue and that will be no different when they take to the pitch on Saturday afternoon at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Red and white or just white, Madrid will be united for the biggest derby of the Spanish football season to date. Wherever you are in the world, it’s a game you don’t want to miss. Full of prestige and heritage.