“How difficult you make it for those of us who are not from Madrid”

Before the party, the protocol. Madrid began the celebration of the season with a visit to the Madrid institutions to offer the Fourteenth and also the League title, the 35th, which at the time could not be celebrated with all the honors due to the imminence of the second leg of the semifinals against City. Both trophies were paraded through the capital this Sunday before the players went to Cibeles, on a tour that took them to the cathedral, the headquarters of the Community of Madrid and the City Hall. Thousands of fans gathered at the three meeting points, in some cases hours before the players arrived.

The delegation left the Bernabéu a few minutes after six in the afternoon. The fans were already waiting in the Plaza de los Sagrados Corazones, the nerve center of the conspiracies for the comebacks. The image of the bus making its way through the public on both sides of Concha Espina avenue was worthy of the high mountain stages of the Tour de France.

The first stop of the procession was at the Almudena Cathedral, where the staff offered the two titles to the patron saint of the capital. President Florentino Pérez led the delegation, which was received by the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Monsignor Carlos Osoro. The captains carried the trophies. Marcelo and Benzema won the Champions League and Nacho and Modric the League. Mendy took over from the Brazilian when he made the floral offering. “These titles are the greatest stimuli to continue pursuing our big dreams,” said the president madridista in the first speech he gave during the afternoon. The players also took their first family photo on the steps of the episcopal see.

On the sun

Next stop, ‘friendly’ territory. The headquarters of the Community of Madrid, where Isabel Díaz Ayuso, a madridista fan, was waiting for them, who came out to greet the players on the street with Florentino as cicerone. While his teammates settled in, Courtois listened to Real Madrid TV: “I haven’t slept much. Too much adrenaline. I couldn’t believe I won my first European Cup”. Florentino took the floor: “Madrid has no owner. It is its partners and its people who determine our destiny. The madridistas, all united, have been capable of achieving great feats that seemed impossible. Madrid never gives up, that is how it is built the history”. The regional president, who put on the shirt that Pérez gave her, remembered the great hero of the final: “I want to thank San Courtois for his effort”.

The players went out to the balcony of the Real Casa de Correos to offer the trophies to the fans who gathered in a somewhat soulless Puerta del Sol. The works in the square caused the crowd to be far from the balcony, scattered through the streets adjacent to kilometer 0. “Thank you very much. These Cups are for you”, said Marcelo, who took the microphone to incite the crowd to start with a “How can I not love you…!”.

City hall

From friendly territory, to Comanche territory. The host at the Town Hall was José Luis Martínez Almeida. The mayor, a self-confessed Atlético fan, had no choice but to surrender to Madrid’s triumphs. “You have won five of the last nine finals. How difficult you make it for those of us who are not from Madrid!”said the mayor. The alderman reviewed Madrid’s career in this Champions League: “Among 14 European Cups, it must be difficult to choose which is the most special, but this will be part of the memory.”

Almeida showed off his athletic status and launched several taunts. On account of the comebacks: “Does it feel good for him to suffer?” On Courtois’s words: “Those of us who cry with you and by your side in Lisbon are also on the good side. We are all on the good side in this city”. And he remembered Ancelotti’s joke on him the day they met: “Either the mayor changes teams or Madrid changes mayor.” Almeida did not want to wear the shirt they gave him despite Marcelo’s insistence, although he did lift the replica of the Fourteenth cheered by the players three times. Florentino closed the speeches: “The madridistas already know what our next goal is, the Fifteenth, and our players also want it”.