Viaje

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.”

Football has those things: one falls in love with a team without even having visited the city of its origin. This happens to some members of our Peña. They are members of Atlético de Madrid without having visited their stadium, distant fans, at heart, who would like to see more live matches but cannot for various reasons.

When, on the occasion of the First Meeting of European Atlético Peñas, a delegation from Atleti visited us in Cologne, this situation became evident during the talk with the peñas, and the Club’s representative showed great generosity by inviting all members of our Peña who had not yet visited our stadium to the match against Lazio.

Second-to-last match of the Champions League group stage, and it was Feyenoord from Rotterdam’s turn. Back in August, when the draw was made and Feyenoord came up, I thought this would be a good trip. I had been to the Netherlands before, sure, but never to Rotterdam.

Said and done. The three of us, Javi, Edu, and me, were on our way, and as always, I had the longest journey. It’s the drawback of living in Paradise. The journey started on Friday after work, with a stop in Madrid to catch my Atleti in the league against Mallorca. Javi, who lives in Germany near the Dutch border, was driving, and Edu was flying from Barcelona to Amsterdam. I decided to fly to Germany and go by car with Javi.

At last, the day had arrived!

This time, the meeting was in Glasgow, and it was the first major trip organized by our new supporters’ club. A good number of members decided to attend a match that was expected to be historic: it marked the 50th anniversary of the famous “Battle of Glasgow.” Our flight departed very early from Cologne to Edinburgh. There, we met up with Rubén and Maribel, who did land from Madrid two hours later. To make the transportation easier, we decided to rent a car, and the four of us set off for Glasgow, arriving around 2 in the afternoon.

We had known for some time about the celebration of the III International Congress of Atlético Madrid Peñas in Badajoz. Our president headed there to collaborate in the organization of the event and, above all, to represent our Peña. The event was organized by the International Union of Peñas under the sponsorship of Cívitas and took place on the 14th and 15th of October.

On Friday, we traveled there to begin organizing everything. Alonso, from the Badajoz-based Peña “Tos por igual,” generously offered his restaurant for a meal for those of us arriving and, in the evening, for an informal dinner that turned out to be a great success. The most festive among us ended the night in one of the city’s trendy venues, while others went straight to the hotel, as the next day promised to be a long one. On Saturday morning, we started distributing accreditations to those arriving at the Río and NH hotels. Welcome bags were prepared for the attendees, containing small tokens of welcome, and it was a pleasure to get to know the different members of the Peñas and reunite with those we already knew.