AFP, MADRIDAtletico Madrid’s mythical Estadio Vicente Calderon will soon be history, sad news for supporters of Real Madrid’s rivals, but not so for locals who hope the neighborhood will improve once noisy fans are gone. On Sunday last week, he was there for Atletico’s final La Liga game in the Calderon — “the saddest day ever here,” he said, despite his team’s 3-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao. By so doing, they hope to close the gap with Barcelona and Real Madrid, who made more than 600 million euros apiece this season. Still, the new stadium in the San Blas District is in a remote area in eastern Madrid, far from southern parts of the capital that traditionally support Atletico more than Real Madrid. They worry that the ensuing debt will stop the club from being able to pay the 80 million euros to 90 million euros needed “to bring first-class players,” said Ricardo Menendez, a journalist for the Atletico-specialized Web site Esto Es Atleti.

Source: Taipei Times May 27, 2017 16:06 UTC