At the end of this occasionally heated, largely room temperature night of make-or-break Champions League football Atlético Madrid’s travelling fans could be seen still singing in the away end 20 minutes after the final whistle, scarves twirling, flags draped, a wall of consolatory red and white.
Atlético may have just failed to reach the knockout stages for the first time in seven seasons after this 1-1 draw. They may have looked blunt, a powerhouse whose resources have been stretched, with a team who have aged together. But this is a club built on that same collective will and heart that made the creaky, grubby Vicente Calderón such an uplifting place to visit. You can’t kill the spirit and there was a warmth to the end notes here on a night that left Diego Simeone taciturn and glowering – or rather, even more taciturn and glowering – as he picked over his team’s exit.
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