The Atlético Madrid Chronicle
Match20 Oct 2029
Nobody wins at Atlético Madrid
26 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Karl Etta Eyong says Atlético Madrid went back on their word
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market22 Oct 2029
Neil El Aynaoui hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlético Madrid can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
A brace, and Enzo Fernández takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Enzo Fernández provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match20 Oct 2029
Atlético Madrid make it 6 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Atlético Madrid have 6 straight wins of it.
Market22 Oct 2029
Fernando Calero is on his way
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlético Madrid is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Marcos Llorente, 34, rolls back the years — 7.81
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Tempers go at Atlético Madrid
Dani Olmo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Alejandro Grimaldo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
- The dugout Johan Manzambi gets it from the manager
- Match Atlético Madrid find a way past Villarreal
- Squad A muscle injury and 15 days out for Pedro Ramos