Atletico Madrid - One of the best Euro aways due to the friendliness of the Atletico fans. It was immediately clear there were no hard feelings that their favourite young striker now wore the all red of Liverpool. In fact, just the opposite. They still worshipped him, as of course we did at that time, and although they might've wished he was still an Atletico player, they were proud of how well he was doing at Anfield.
Before, during and after the match, Torres songs were belted out. Their Frankie Valli version followed by our bounce, followed by us singing their Frankie Valli version and them bouncing. The Stadio Vicente Calderon was an atmospheric place and looked incredible, absolutely packed to the rafters with passionate Atletico fans. The fact that Torres was injured did little to dampen the mutual adoration of him, although the travelling Kop of course found room for an Ole Ole Ole for Florent Sinama-Pongolle as well as plenty of "He drinks sangria" for a certain little legend.
I might have this wrong, but I've got a feeling that when Marseille played there a few weeks before there was crowd trouble. I think Uefa wrongly saw the Liverpool match as a potential flashpoint and were threatening sanctions which the Spanish knew would not be necessary. In the event, I think any sanctions were postponed. We ended up stood right next to the Atletico fans with little or no segregation and the mutual respect and scarves that flowed between the two sets of supporters made a mockery of Uefa concerns. I got a huge hug off one Atletico fan at the end as we poured out of the ground to be met by a guard of honour of applauding Spanish fans. We applauded back, then dived into a nearby bar and went through the entire repetoire of LFC songs old and new, pausing between each one to let the Atletico fans have their turn. Big plastic pints of Mahou flowed, people climbed onto tables to sing and dance and the bar became one big fiesta. A special atmosphere and a great trip.
