INTER-ATLÉTICO: ITALY OFFERED A SHAMEFUL SPECTACLE

For many fans, watching a match in Italy is a dream. For those of us who have been more than once, it remains a game of chance: Italians are unpredictable in their game and in their organization. Fourteen members of the Atlético de Madrid Fan Club from Germany decided to tempt fate and continue to make our fan club the most dynamic in this country, so we requested the tickets with the assurance that they would be granted to us, and we all marked February 20th on our calendars as “destination Milan.”

Both the day before and the day of the match, we traveled to Milan to see our Atleti play against Inter. It was never an easy opponent, so the expectations of seeing an exciting match were high. Henrik and I decided to share an Airbnb with Marcos and Sergio, acquaintances from other trips and friends of revelry like us. On Monday the 19th, the four of us met with our dear Blacky around 9 p.m. at Stazione Zentrale and dined at a typical Italian restaurant nearby. On our way to the apartment, we made a brief stop where Lorenzo, the boss of a place with a rather questionable clientele (we immediately realized that the cream of the neighborhood stopped there) and decided to go to rest early. A day full of emotions awaited us.

On Tuesday the 20th, we headed to Piazza del Duomo. It wasn’t the designated meeting place for Atlético fans, but the red and white colors already dyed the most visited area of Milan. We toured the surroundings in spring weather, admiring the very expensive shops and already enjoying the pre-match atmosphere. After an aperitif at Terrazza Aperol with spectacular views, we decided to eat at a restaurant on the adjacent street and then head to Piazza della Pace, the meeting place and where the march started.

We started the march, but we saw that time was pressing and we were not arriving on time, so we decided to take the metro. The police were not very cooperative, and we did not want to encounter Inter fans, so with some fear, we managed to reach the Giuseppe Meazza stadium. And here the chaos began. The gate we were supposed to enter through was closed, and no one told us where we should go. It was around 8:15 p.m., and the chaos was total: no one was helping, and everyone wanted to get in. A large mass was forming, pushing against the metal fence, and we didn’t see anyone entering.

We were all nervous; we had all paid to watch 90 minutes of the match, and we didn’t understand what the security personnel were doing. They shouted, pushed, enclosed us with fences that they later refused to open, and forced us to jump over them. I got stuck on one of them, and today my leg is full of bruises and bruises, and my hip pain is considerable. More than football fans, we looked like a flock; that’s how they treated us. It was a shameful and reportable spectacle that should never be repeated. In the tumult, Henrik noticed that his mobile phone, ID, and credit card had been stolen, a serious problem since he was flying back early the next day.

At the end of the match, they held us at the stadium for almost an hour, a huge mistake because the last metro was about to leave. The organization was terrible from start to finish; no one was collaborating, no one was informing. There was no trace of the Atletico de Madrid staff. After leaving the stadium, Henrik, Marcos, Sergio, and I went to a police station to report the theft. Sergio took the metro, and the doors closed for us; we thought we wouldn’t see him because he didn’t have battery on his phone or the address of the apartment. When we saw him leave, the situation overwhelmed us, and we burst out laughing; everything was surreal, stupid. Luckily, another metro came, and Sergio was waiting for us at the next station, so we went to the police station together. We filed the relevant report, but the carabinieri assured us that he could not fly, so he had to cancel his flight and get a provisional passport at the German consulate, a whole odyssey!

So much misfortune, coupled with the 0-1 result of the match, has made us lose our desire for Italy for the moment, and on the contrary, we are looking forward to the Inter tifosi coming to the Metropolitano to give them -sportingly speaking, of course- what they deserve.

Thanks to all who have accompanied us on this journey, people who make trips feel like seeing family again. Because, after all, that’s what we are.

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