Five Things You May Not Know About The Madrid Derby

With Real Madrid playing host to crosstown rivals Atletico Madrid in the Madrid derby on Saturday, here are five things you might not know about the fixture!

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1. Atletico were formed in reaction to Real Madrid

A group of Basque students living in Madrid attended the first ever Copa del Rey final in 1903 between Bilbao's Athletic Club and Madrid FC, the team that would go on to become Real Madrid. They disliked the way Madrid FC played, and 18 days later created a Madrid-based subsidiary of Athletic… which would go on to become Atletico de Madrid.

2. Atletico once went 14 years without a derby win, but it's a very different story now

Between 1999 and 2013, the Rojiblancos endured derby hell. They didn't win in 25 meetings with Real Madrid, until the arrival of Diego Simeone eventually changed their fortunes. Since then, the derby balance has shifted; they've won eight of the 26 derbies played since, while also drawing 11.

3. Atletico fans began the tradition of celebrating at Cibeles Fountain, not Real Madrid!

During the 1970s, the tradition of celebrating titles with fellow fans of your team at certain points in the city began to emerge in Spanish football. The Cibeles Fountain, located in the centre of Madrid, emerged as an ideal meeting point for such fans, but although is closely associated with Real Madrid today, it was actually Atleti fans who first started to hold their celebrations there, after a LaLiga title win in 1977. Over time, other supporters began to copy them and it became the fan meeting point in the city for title wins; throughout the 1980s, Real Madrid supporters would celebrate the victories of the iconic Quinta del Buitre generation there. By the time Atletico won another title in 1991 – the Copa del Rey – Cibeles had become so closely associated with Real Madrid that their fans decided to move their celebrations 600m down the city's Paseo de la Castellana avenue to Neptune's fountain. 

4. This used to be a bigger fixture than El Clasico

Today, Los Blancos' biggest arch-rivals are Barcelona, but the Madrid derby was a bigger deal in the first couple of decades after the Spanish Civil War ended in 1939. As the all-time great Alfredo Di Stefano once said: "Forget Barcelona… the team that can frustrate us is Atletico."

5. Nine of Atletico's Copa del Rey wins have come at the Bernabeu

Real's Santiago Bernabeu stadium is, funnily enough, a very special place for Atletico fans. Los Colchoneros have won the Copa del Rey on 10 occasions, with a remarkable nine of those successes coming at their arch-rivals' stadium. Only the 1996 victory against Barcelona was held at a different ground: Real Zaragoza's La Romareda.