Prior to this game cropping up we'd never really done a major European derby game, other than Rangers vs Queens Park in the oldest of old firm games. We had the feeling this may be slightly more on the raucous side, and we were correct.
Atletico vs Real then, two sides who have title ambitions sitting third and first respectively with Barcelona sandwiched between the two playing lowly Almeria later in the day. There have already been two derbies involving Atletico and Real with Atleti winning 1-0 at the Bernabeu earlier in the season and Real leaving the Vicente Calderon with a 2-0 victory in the Copa Del Rey.
We'd bought our tickets some time before the Derby from the official Atletico Madrid website who use the agency Ticketmaster. Simply select how many seats you want, click on the desired sector and one further click secures you your seat, simples. Tickets for this game started around €70 in the upper tiers and rising to €90 in the lower sections, we opted for the lively Fondo Sur, the south stand which house the Atleti ultra's and the bulk of the vocal support.
Heading down to collect the tickets on the Saturday morning proved an interesting experience, the first ticket office happened to be closed with only confused Atleti supporters for company loitering about. A quick wander to the club shop resulted in being directed towards the main stand VIP suite to collect those all important tickets, on the way Atleti touts were only too happy to try and sell you tickets but I'm happy to report that no business was done on our part.
The VIP section was complete with view of the pitch (standard) and the added extra of seeing the team training on the pitch, result! Although security were quick to stop anyone taking photo's of the session. Tickets in hand we left the Calderon with 2 x huge grins and could quite happily have taken our seats there and then until the kick off.
Sunday morning and Madrid was heaving, bars filled and red and white shirts everywhere, we headed down to the stadium passing around 20 vans of police keeping a watchful eye on the masses coming down the streets, one group of which were armed with red flares and smoke bombs, all adding to the good natured atmosphere.
The ground itself is a two tiered affair for three quarters of it with the huge main stand completing the set with open corners either side of it housing scoreboards. One key thing to remember when attending a game here is bring a hooded jacket as the stands are open to the elements ,as we were to find out.
Just before the teams came out the ground became filled by placards depicting the colours of the club crest producing a fantastic display. We had barely taken our seats by the time Angel Di Maria swung the ball over from the right picking out Karim Benzema hovering at the far post to put Real ahead after just three minutes. The celebrating away support was tucked away the upper tier of the north stand and wisely penned in by the police.
Spanish football's unsavoury side then reared its ugly head as men, women and children behind and around us engaged in monkey chanting and racist abuse of Real's players, singling out first Pepe and later Marcelo, however we will not give these idiots any further lines on this page than these. Other word's adding to my limited Spanish vocabulary include 'Puta!' (meaning bitch, prostitute, whore etc) which was yelled in nearly every sentence involving Real Madrid throughout the course of the afternoon.
Atletico began to tick as Real became wasteful in possession, Gareth Bale one of the main culprits and having a game to forget. Diego Costa took on Sergio Ramos on the edge of the box and ended up being chopped down for his trouble, the most stonewall penalty imaginable but instead of a spot kick, Costa's reward was a yellow card for simulation, unbelievable.
Still that didn't deter the home side and as Arda Turan twisted and turned on the edge of the box, he slipped in Koke to fire across Diego Lopez and level the match, the stadium erupted and our end was quite frankly nuts. Speaking of nuts, sitting next to your average supporter in Madrid is a bit like spending 90 minutes with a budgie due to sunflower seed's being the snack of choice in these parts.
What came next was something very special, Gabi collected the ball 30 yards from goal and belted a swerving shot past the helpless Diego Lopez to burst the net and send the ground into delirium, the frustration of Real's constant diving and questionable refereeing decisions had been levelled up in the best way possible and with that half time arrived.
Then came the next major flashpoint of the afternoon, Costa broke away again towards the edge of the box and was yet again brought down with the referee waving away the protests. It all got a bit much for Atletico assistant German Burgos who had to be restrained by the entire bench from confronting the official.
Sadly for the home side the sucker punch arrived, a lucky ricochet fell to Daniel Carvajal to pull the ball back for Cristiano Ronaldo to pass the ball past Courtois for the equaliser. Heartbreak for Atleti but based on the balance of play perhaps correct.
Applause and pride at the final whistle and one of our finest European adventures to date, no sooner were we down the steps of the Vicente Calderon we were back onto the Metro destination Vallecas for the evening game Rayo Vallecano vs Valencia, who said Sunday was a day of rest?
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