ORDEAL IN LA CARTUJA. A FINAL TO FORGET (AND NOT JUST BECAUSE OF THE FOOTBALL)

Carmen

April 30, 2026

ORDEAL IN LA CARTUJA. A FINAL TO FORGET (AND NOT JUST BECAUSE OF THE FOOTBALL)

What began as an expedition fueled by faith from the Peña Atlética de Alemania ended up being a true ordeal that we wouldn’t wish upon our worst enemy. We landed in Faro on Friday the 17th with suitcases full of scarves and our voices ready, but little did we know that Saturday in Seville held a survival obstacle course designed by the enemy. We parked near La Cartuja, and right there, the football ended to make way for third-world conditions.

The pre-match was an absolute disaster: a tiny “playpen” for a fan zone, pathetic for the size of the crowd we move, where we were huddled together under a merciless heat and, to make matters worse, without a single drop of water at hand. Instead of organization, we were met with arrogant police who seemed to enjoy charging their horses at people who just wanted to sing, tensing up an atmosphere that was already suffocating.

Entering the stadium was the next level of this horror video game. No signal to download tickets that the RFEF insists on making digital in a venue that is a total dead zone, and security staff who didn’t have the slightest clue about anything. Once inside, the spectacle on the pitch was just as bleak: an ugly, flat Atleti, without intent and without soul. We endured an unbearable extra time only to end up dying in a penalty shootout that merely confirmed it wasn’t our night—neither in the stands nor on the field.

The exit was the icing on the cake: a total collapse, in pitch black, with no lighting whatsoever and the bridge turned into a human deathtrap. Appalling organization by the Federation and, what hurts us most, a silent Atlético de Madrid, failing to protest the systematic mistreatment of its members. We return to Germany disheartened and with a void in our chests, but with our minds already set on the fact that, after this collapse in Seville, we still have the European dream of the Champions League.

And make no mistake: we will keep traveling, because what moves us cannot be killed by thirst or mistreatment. Our passion is far stronger than their incompetence. Because if there is one thing we know in this Peña, it’s that the worse they treat us, the louder we shout. ¡Aúpa Atleti!

Photos