The History of Club Atlético de Madrid
Athletic Club de MadridThe club was originally founded on April 26th 1903 as Athletic Club de Madrid by three Basque students living in Madrid. The founders saw the new club as a branch of Athletic Bilbao. In 1904 they were joined by dissident members of Madrid FC. They began playing in blue and white, as did Athletic Bilbao, but by 1911 they were playing in their current colours. The reason the club changed colours is not known for certain. However one theory is that red and white striped tops were the cheapest stripes to make because the same combination was used to make bed mattresses. The left over cloth was easily converted into football shirts. Although both Athletic Bilbao and Athletic Madrid started out with blue and white stripes, the discovery of a cheaper option probably persuaded them to change. The Madrid club did it first and they became known as los colchoneros - the mattress makers.
In 1921 Athletic Madrid became independent of Athletic Bilbao and by 1923, the club built its first stadium, the Metropolitano. During the 1920s Athletic won the Campeonato del Centro three times and in 1921 and 1926 they were Copa del Rey runners-up. Based on this record, they were invited to join the Primera División of the inaugural La Liga in 1928. During their debut La Liga season the club were managed by Fred Pentland. However in 1930 they were relegated to the Segunda División. They briefly returned to the Primera División in 1934, again with Pentland in charge. The club were relegated again in 1936 after Josep Samitier took over in mid-season from Pentland. However the Spanish Civil War gave the club a reprieve and both La Liga and Athletics relegation were postponed.
The MetropolitanoBy 1939, when La Liga had resumed, Athletic had merged with Aviacion Nacional of Zaragoza to become Athletic Aviacion de Madrid. Aviacion Nacional had been founded in 1939 by members of the Spanish Air Force. They had been promised a place in the Primera División for the 1939-40 season, only to be denied by the RFEF. As a compromise this club merged with Athletic, whose squad had lost eight players in the Spanish Civil War. The team were awarded a place in the 1939-40 Primera División only as a replacement for Real Oviedo whose ground had been damaged during the war. With Ricardo Zamora as manager, the club subsequently won their first La Liga in 1940 and then retained the title in 1941.
In 1941 a decree issued by Franco banned teams from using foreign names and the club became Atlético Aviacion de Madrid. In 1947 the club decided to drop the military association from its name and settled on its current name Club Atlético de Madrid. The same year saw Atlético beat Real Madrid 5-0 at the Metropolitano, to date their biggest win over their rivals.
The Golden AgeUnder Helenio Herrera and with the help of Larbi Benbarek, Atlético won La Liga again in 1950 and 1951. With the departure of Herrera in 1953, the club began to slip behind Real Madrid and CF Barcelona and for the remainder of the 1950s they where left to battle it out with Atlético Bilbao for the title of third team in Spain.
However during the 1960s and 1970s, Atlético Madrid seriously challenged CF Barcelona for the position of second team. The 1957/58 season saw Fernando Daucik take charge of Atlético and he led them to second place in La Liga. This resulted in Atlético qualifying for the 1958/59 seasons European Cup since the winners, Real Madrid where the reigning European champions. Inspired by Brazilian centre-forward Vavá and Enrique Collar, Atlético reached the semi-finals after beating Drumcondra, CSKA Sofia and FC Schalke 04. In the semi-finals they met Real Madrid. Real won the first leg 2-1 at the Bernabéu while Atlético won 1-0 at the Metropolitano. If away goals had counted double Atlético would have progressed to the final. However the tie went to a replay and Real won 2-1 in Zaragoza.
Atlético, however, gained their revenge when, led by former Real coach José Villalonga, they defeated Real in two successive Copa del Generalísimo finals in 1960 and 1961. In 1962 they won the European Cup Winners Cup beating Fiorentina 3-0 after a replay. In 1963 they reached the final of the same competition again, this time losing 5-1 to Tottenham Hotspur F.C.. Enrique Collar, who continued to be an influential player during this era, was now joined by the likes of midfielder Miguel Jones and midfield playmaker Adelardo.
In 1968 Atlético changed his Metropolitano Stadium for an state of the art venue, Estadio del Manzanares, later renamed to Estadio Vicente Calderón, after the best ever Chairman Atlético had.
President Vicente Calderón in Stadium Vincente CalderónUnfortunately for Atlético fans their best years coincided with a great Real Madrid team. Between 1961 and 1980, Real Madrid dominated La Liga with the club winning the competition 14 times. During this era only Atlético offered Real any serious challenge, winning La Liga titles in 1966, 1970, 1973 and 1977. They were also runners-up in 1961, 1963 and 1965 and won the Copa del Generalísimo again in 1965, 1972 and 1976. In 1965, when they finished as La Liga runners-up to Real after an intense battle for the title, Atlético became the first team to beat Real at the Bernabéu in eight years.
European Cup FinalistsSignificant players from this era included the now veteren Adelardo and regular goalscorers Luis Aragonés, Javier Irureta and José Eulogio Gárate. The latter won the Pichichi three times in 1969, 1970 and 1971. In the 1970s Atlético also recruited several Argentine employees, signing Ruben Ayala, Panadero Diaz and Ramon Heredia, as well as coach Juan Carlos Lorenzo. Lorenzo believed in discipline, caution and disrupting the opponents’ game. Although controversial, his methods proved successful and after winning La Liga in 1973, the club reached the European Cup final in 1974. On the way to the final Atlético knocked out Galatasaray, Dinamo Bucharest, Red Star Belgrade and Celtic. In the away leg of the semi-final against Celtic, Atlético had Ayala, Diaz and substitute Quique all sent off during a hard fought encounter. Despite this they still managed a 0-0 draw and then won the return leg 2-0 with goals from Gárate and Adelardo. However the final at the Heysel Stadium proved to be a heartbreaker for Atlético. Against a Bayern Munich team that included Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, Paul Breitner, Uli Hoeness and Gerd Müller, Atlético played above themselves. Despite missing Ayala, Diaz and Quique through suspension, they went ahead in extra-time with only seven minutes left. Aragonés scored with a superb, curling free-kick that looked like the winner. However in the last minute of the game Bayern defender Georg Schwarzenbeck equalised with a stunning 25 yarder that left the Atlético goalkeeper Miguel Reina motionless. In a replay, back in the Heysel, two days later Bayern won 4-0.
The Aragonés YearsShortly after the defeat in the European Cup, Atlético appointed their veteran player Luis Aragonés as coach. Aragonés subsequently served as coach on four separate occasions (1974-80, 1982-87, 1991-93 and 2002-03). His first success came quickly. Bayern Munich had declined to participate in the Intercontinental Cup and as runners-up, Atlético were invited instead. Their opponents were Independiente of Argentina and, after losing the away leg 1-0, they won the return leg 2-0 with goals from Javier Irureta and Ruben Ayala. Aragonés subsequently led the club to further successes in the Copa del Rey in 1976 and La Liga in 1977.
During his second spell in charge, Aragonés led the club to second in La Liga and a Copa del Rey in 1985. He received considerable help from Hugo Sánchez who scored 19 La Liga goals and won the Pichichi. Sánchez also scored twice in the Copa final as Atlético beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1. However Sánchez only remained at the club one season before he move across the city to Real Madrid. Despite the loss of Sánchez, Aragonés went on to lead the club to success in the Supercopa de Espańa in 1985 and then guided them to the European Cup Winners Cup final in 1986. However Atlético lost their third successive European final, this time 3-0 to Dynamo Kiev.
The Jesús Gil YearsIn 1987 Jesús Gil became club president. Atlético had not won La Liga for ten years and were desperate for success. Gil spent heavily, bringing in a number of expensive signings, most notably Paulo Futre. However the title proved elusive and Gil developed a reputation for his ruthlessness. He hired and fired a number of managers, including César Luis Menotti, Ron Atkinson, Javier Clemente and a returning Luis Aragonés, in pursuit of success. In 1996 Radomir Antic, with a squad including José Luis Caminero, Diego Simeone, Milinko Pantic, Juan Manuel López and Kiko, finally delivered. Atlético won a La Liga/Copa del Rey double. However this success produced no change in the Gil strategy and although Antic survived three consecutive seasons in charge he was replaced in 1998 by Arrigo Sacchi. Antic returned briefly in 1999 only to be replaced by Claudio Ranieri. The spending also continued with Christian Vieri and Juninho arriving in the late 1990s. The 1999/00 season proved disastrous for Atlético. Ranieri was sacked with the club heading towards relegation and the return of Antic for a third time failed to prevent the inevitable. Despite reaching the Copa del Rey final, Atlético were relegated.
New Life Under CerezoAtlético spent two seasons in the Segunda División, narrowly missing out on promotion in 2001 before winning the Segunda División championship in 2002. In May 2003, at the culmination of a torrid season back in the Primera, Gil resigned as Atletico's president after 16 years at the helm, and died following a stroke in 2004. His position was taken by Enrique Cerezo. Since promotion, the Club has never been close to his usual records, and history has repeated itself for the last four years with high early season expectation, but below-par on pitch performances.
After the 2005/06 campaign, Atletico finished 10th and were without a manager. Former Mexico World Cup Manager Javier Aguirre was handed the job and he eventually began a revolution at the club. Aguirre soon puled off the signing of the summer as 18 year-old Argentine playmaker Sergio "Kun" Aguero was bought from Independienete for €23,000,000. This signalled something of a fresh start for the promising, underachieving Atleti squad, and with much promise within the side and manager of great repute, who would bet against them being there or thereabouts come the end of the season?
I may delete old posts from time to time to keep it clean though, if you don't mind?
