es un sentimiento, y el mío es rojiblanco...
I'm aware that I have friends who are madridistas.
I'm aware that Real Madrid was the first Spanish team I started watching.
I'm also aware that I still have a soft spot for some Real Madrid players.
But today, all this simply doesn't count.
It might have taken me ages to become an Athletic supporter, but that was neither Athletic's fault nor Real Madrid's merit. You can't support a club that you don't even know exists, and the German media are generally only aware of 2 La Liga clubs, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. There is practically no chance of finding out anything about the rest unless you turn to Spanish media, which initially was impossible for me due to not speaking Spanish. So let's say that finding out about Athletic's existence was all it took to make me fall in love with them.
Today, it wasn't only the fact that I had to witness 4 goals being scored against my team, 4 goals after a quite amazing series of clean sheets, 4 goals that were at least 2 too many, considering the course of the game.
Today, I also had to witness an undeserved red card, an undeserved penalty, a deserved but not given penalty, a deserved but not given red card, and another pardon that should have been an expulsion.
Madridistas might not agree with me there, but I know what I saw, and I wasn't the only one to see it either. My Austrian commentator is anything but biased towards Athletic and even he expressed his doubts about the second penalty and the expulsion of Óscar de Marcos as well as the foul against Ibai Gómez and the unnecessary act of violence of Lass against Toquero. Yes, and the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo was still on the pitch to score those penalties when he should have seen his second yellow at the end of the first half.
It's easy to complain about referees, but five bad calls which clearly influenced the course of the match are just too much for me.
Try and put yourself in my position.
Or better yet, don't. You won this, so be happy about it, and grant me the right to vent my anger and to sulk in peace.
No matter what happened, I fell for Athletic during a defeat against Real Madrid, and I will remain an unconditional, passionate supporter even if we lose against them a thousand times more. I'm proud of my team for having fought valiantly in this match, despite everything, and I shall proudly wear my Athletic scarf and pullover to work tomorrow.
Beti zurekin, Athletic. Zu zara nagusia.
I'm aware that Real Madrid was the first Spanish team I started watching.
I'm also aware that I still have a soft spot for some Real Madrid players.
But today, all this simply doesn't count.
It might have taken me ages to become an Athletic supporter, but that was neither Athletic's fault nor Real Madrid's merit. You can't support a club that you don't even know exists, and the German media are generally only aware of 2 La Liga clubs, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. There is practically no chance of finding out anything about the rest unless you turn to Spanish media, which initially was impossible for me due to not speaking Spanish. So let's say that finding out about Athletic's existence was all it took to make me fall in love with them.
Today, it wasn't only the fact that I had to witness 4 goals being scored against my team, 4 goals after a quite amazing series of clean sheets, 4 goals that were at least 2 too many, considering the course of the game.
Today, I also had to witness an undeserved red card, an undeserved penalty, a deserved but not given penalty, a deserved but not given red card, and another pardon that should have been an expulsion.
Madridistas might not agree with me there, but I know what I saw, and I wasn't the only one to see it either. My Austrian commentator is anything but biased towards Athletic and even he expressed his doubts about the second penalty and the expulsion of Óscar de Marcos as well as the foul against Ibai Gómez and the unnecessary act of violence of Lass against Toquero. Yes, and the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo was still on the pitch to score those penalties when he should have seen his second yellow at the end of the first half.
It's easy to complain about referees, but five bad calls which clearly influenced the course of the match are just too much for me.
Try and put yourself in my position.
Or better yet, don't. You won this, so be happy about it, and grant me the right to vent my anger and to sulk in peace.
No matter what happened, I fell for Athletic during a defeat against Real Madrid, and I will remain an unconditional, passionate supporter even if we lose against them a thousand times more. I'm proud of my team for having fought valiantly in this match, despite everything, and I shall proudly wear my Athletic scarf and pullover to work tomorrow.
Beti zurekin, Athletic. Zu zara nagusia.