The unfortunate episode experienced during the derby between Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid played this Sunday at the Metropolitano the umpteenth proof that the mattress club has a serious problem with ultras.
After the referee decided to stop the match for twenty minutes due to objects being thrown onto the pitch from the Frente Atlético stands, Atlético condemned the attack to Thibaut Courtois in a statement, and later confirmed that the identified fan had been permanently banned.
This is the club’s usual procedure in these cases: an exemplary sanction to isolated individuals (as if only one had been responsible for throwing lighters, bottles and other objects) and a reaffirmation of the good faith of the vast majority of fans.
But framing the problem as that of a handful of lunatics spoiling the good atmosphere in the countryside prevents us from truly recognizing and solving the underlying problem.
Because it is obvious that some of the red and white fans have an ultra deeply rooted cultureperfectly identifiable in the so-called Front Atlético, which even has two deaths to its credit and which the club could not or did not want to eliminate.
And it is legitimate to doubt the persecutory zeal of those responsible for the security of Civitas Metropolitano. In conversation with EL ESPAÑOL, police sources present on the system set up for the derby accuse Atlético de Madrid of having prevented agents from identifying the ultras. And they point out that this is not the first time that they have been prevented from leaving the stands.
It would seem that this blatant permissiveness is based on the absurd idea that the extremism of some of its fans is part of the institution’s trademark. But violence in football, which begins with the normalization of insults in stadiums, can only be considered as a scourge to be eradicated.
And not just the directive of Enrique Cerezo showed intolerable indulgence. The team also appeared intimidated by the ultras..
He Cholo Simeone During a press conference, he equated the aggressor with the attacked, saying that “those who throw and those who provoke must be punished.” And we saw him begging for calm in the radical sector of the stands, as if negotiating with the violent was an option.
The team captain, for his part, exonerated the radicals, also accusing Courtois, and avoided demanding his expulsion from the stadium. Furthermore, the team came after the final whistle to applaud Fondo Sur, when the only appropriate gesture would have been to disfigure his attitude. What Athletic Club players did last week, blaming fans for throwing flares at the AS Roma stadium.
Atlético de Madrid is a club subjugated by its ultras, whom it only dares to snub with a small mouth. The red and white board must once and for all use the work that Real Madrid successfully undertook ten years ago.when, after a similar incident, he expelled the radical Ultras Sur from the Bernabéu.
If we continue to leave room for violent people, Spanish sport will be infested with images more typical of other latitudes of football that we thought had fortunately disappeared.
