“Whenever you put on a shirt like Atlético’s, there are no excuses,” announced the still relatively new coach Diego Simeone ahead of the game against city rivals Getafe. Never one to fail to produce inspiring rhetoric, it is Los Rojiblancos domestic form of late that is a little less awe-inspiring.
It now looks too late for coach Gregorio Manzano to turn around the fortunes of Madrid’s perennial underachievers and save his job.
The Madrid derby saw the Portuguese striker show his flippant side on the pitch. But Atlético’s anger at Ronaldo hides their frustration at always coming second to bitter rival Real.
It’s not easy being an Atlético Madrid fan. There’s the administrative and boardroom chaos, the unbalanced books and the revolving door of coaches, each hailed as a saviour before being dismissed as a false prophet. There are the financial scandals from the years when Jesús Gil was president, leading to his arrest in 2000 for […]
