From our special correspondent in Madrid,
They love it, the buggers, even if it looks like counter Russian propaganda. Days to build the noodle with a single word in the mouth: “Remontadaaaaaa”. Only one goal down? We don’t care. The pleasure is playing the mandolin for a fortnight and revisiting all of Real’s legendary exploits in a Santiago Bernabeu in a trance behind his team. A well-known little cover of the punchline of former winger Juanito to warm up – “noventa minuti en el Bernabeu son molto longo” –, a little detour to Valdano to theorize on “panic fear” opponents of Real at home, and a speech full of guttural rumblings by Thomas Roncero, legendary editorial writer for the no less legendary show The Chiringuitoto finish.
The art of whipping up the sauce
The guy was particularly lively on Monday evening: “What will happen on Wednesday is written in the history books, that of the 13 European cups. The supporters know that everything must be done to get a place in the stadium on Wednesday evening. Everyone wants an entry, because this game, those who are lucky enough to be there will tell their children and their grandchildren. The Bernabeu will score the first goal”. Brrrrr, los frissonnos, as we say (not) in Cervantes first language.
Funny, this mystique well integrated by the supporters themselves, who feel carried by the breath of conquest when they evoke “these magical evenings which are based on an exceptional atmosphere”, summarizes Manuel Matamoros, socio-founder of the Pena “la primavera blanca”, one of the most active in the enclosure. “The oldest among us will remember all their lives the extraordinary remontadas of the 1980s, when the majority of the public was on their feet”.
It was the time of the “chicken coop” who rushed against the lower barriers to celebrate important goals, of the disgusting toilets, of the supporters who passed on the subscriber’s “booklet” by swinging it from the stands, and certain atmospheres of anthology, We do want to believe it. But football has changed, and Santiago Bernabeu more than the others. It’s no longer a stadium where we slump, since Florentino Perez cleaned up among the “Ultra sur” in a kind of Plan Leproux before the hour, even if some agitators survived the purge and are among the leaders of the “Grada fan”.
A platform that is not unanimous
The Grada fan? It’s the guys in white who bustle about on the left when you’re watching TV, around 5,000 supporters whose gossips say they’re the puppets of the Madrid leaders, obliged to encourage for 90 minutes upright if they do not want to be sweetened the place, the stewards being responsible for reprimanding the possible free riders in the middle of the match. To be taken with tweezers anyway: while the places for PSG were torn off in three minutes, we saw some very clean socios on them complaining that these “special” fans benefit from much cheaper tickets to encourage Real. It is therefore necessary to believe that the principle of kop remains a little obscure in the Spanish stadiums.
We have been trying to foster the birth of a pact between the public and the players for several years, Manuel Matamoros replies diplomatically. I think it’s the right way, but the club’s management still has to do a lot on its side to put an end to each other’s bad habits.
Fairly clear reference to the sometimes haughty attitude of the players, who take the time to say hello once a year, and when it interests them, like last Saturday after the success in front of Real Sociedad to raise the sauce. Among them, Asensio, who had taken the fly against Elche after a few whistles from the stands at 0-0, way of reprimanding this famous critical penchant-of-Télérama-never-happy-with-the-show, which is also found at Camp Nou. “It’s true that in the league, the Madrid public is quite silent and considers that the team must win, period, judges Aaron, a 22-year-old supporter who is desperately looking for a place for the match. We are waiting for these exceptional and magical European Cup evenings to really help the team”.
The reception of the bus, real hot moment
The young man lived the last remontada to date, against Wolfsburg in 2016. he would talk about it for hours. “We didn’t let them breathe. When the Germans had the ball, the whistles could be heard all the way across town. And when Cristiano scored the first goal pffff, the stadium exploded and went crazy… These matches, Real Madrid win them before they start, the Champions League is our competition, and for it we give the maximum” . Barely time to place one that he connects us to the reception of the Madrid bus at 6 p.m. “You have to do it once, the bengal fires and the chants that go with it to build up the pressure, it’s something you never forget. »
On video, it’s true that it sucks, a little more in any case than this Bernabeu being modernized, covered with a tarpaulin over a good part of the first floor of the stands. Works that force the hottest fans to migrate higher while waiting for the end of the works, “almost hidden, in the worst place to try to take the rest of the public with us”, plague Manuel Matamoros, even if the club has promised to push the walls for Wednesday, adding 5,000 places everywhere to reach 60,000 spectators ready to bellow the house anthem at kick-off.
“We will play the game the Bernabeu is waiting for”
“We have often played this type of match at home, confirms Luka Modric, and we know that the help of the public will be important for us, we will need them to push us in complicated moments in order to help us to give even more. more “. But the Croatian knows how it works: in Madrid, it’s the team that takes the socios, rarely the opposite. “It’s important to start with a lot of energy, a lot of intensity, and above all, personality”. “We will play the match that the Bernabeu public expects,” rebounds Ancelotti. Otherwise, we will mainly hear the 1,800 Parisian supporters enlivening the Madrid night.