Atletico

Madrid is home to two major soccer teams- Real Madrid, and Madrid Atletico. Both are members of the prestigious Champions League. We got tickets to an Atletico game against FC Rostov (a Russian team). It was really fun! The two games had different atmospheres, and the stadiums are very different. My professor likened the relationship between Real Madrid and Madrid Atletico to the Yankees and the Mets (respectively), both baseball teams from New York. The Yankees in some ways represent the wealthier establishment, while the Mets have more of a working class feel to them.
The game was really exciting to watch, and Atletico was clearly the better team than Rostov. They maintained possession of the ball for probably about 80% of game time. However, Rostov did have a really good goalie and a good defense, so the score ended up at 2-1.

The best part was seeing how committed the Atletico players were. They were sliding and rushing and tumbling to ensure that they were in possession of the ball, even if that meant taking a hard fall or a huge grass stain.