Banners on the M-30 Less Than 48 Hours Before the Derby Between Real Madrid and Atlético

Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid will face each other in just over a day. This match to be played at Santiago Bernabéu not only puts three points at stake in LaLiga, but it could also be key to defining the fight for leadership. The difference of just one point between both clubs significantly tightens the standings.

Especially because FC Barcelona seems to have regained the winning pace it lost during last December. With Hansi Flick's pupils rejoining the fight for the top spot in the top national competition, both Madrid clubs need a victory against their main rival to 'break away'. Only one will be able to do it.

Real Madrid hopes to be the one chosen to gain a four-point advantage over the colchonero entity and increase its separation from FC Barcelona. With so many possibilities on the table, it is not surprising that the clashes between the fans have grown in intensity and number in the run-up to the match. The colchonero supporters have received a clear reply from some white fans.

The appearance of several banners on some bridges of the M-30, one of the most famous and busy ring roads in the Spanish capital, has clear messages. On some of those fabrics, you can read messages like "Madrid is us", "F*** Atleti", "Madrid belongs to us" or "Eternal second-raters", messages in reply to the colchonero supporters' banners.

Harsh reply

The big difference is the absence of a mannequin hanging by the neck simulating a player from the entity coached by Argentine Diego Pablo Simeone. Before a classic in January 2023, several colchonero supporters hung an inflatable doll with Vinícius's jersey from a bridge on the M-30, with a rope around its neck... which pretended to be the verdeamarelo forward of the entity presided over by Florentino Pérez.

That transgression spread and celebrated in a very specific sector of social networks, repudiated and condemned by the white club, resulted in a police investigation that ended with four arrests. During the subsequent trial, the Public Prosecutor's Office requested a four-year prison sentence for each of the arrested, as well as a compensation of 6,000 euros to Vinícius himself.

The banners displayed bysome white fans fuel the confrontation that, for some years now, seems to have settled between Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. The break of the non-aggression pact of the youth academies, in addition to the referee controversy and completely gratuitous attacks through social networks from the colchonero side, have strained the 'coexistence'.

In front of Carlo Ancelotti's pupils is the opportunity to deal a double blow to the colchonero team. It wouldn't only considerably delay their fight for the LaLiga leadership, but it would also serve as a impactful reply in this rivalry with their second eternal rival in Spanish soccer.