anguspm

Not a problem. Pointers will come in equally handy if you play the Vikingos from up the road... or if you make the final this year

You can sign anyone you want.... excpect Sr Aguero

Depends what walking distance is... The ground is 20 minutes from plaza Mayor. From Opera I would say take the metro the two (or maybe its 3) stops to Puerta de Toledo and you've no problem. One thing... The ground is all DOWNHILL from the center... BUT the center is all uphill from the ground... its a "big" hill!

Ok, Believe I've got most of whats not in the thread here listed... Madrid away fans guide Have a safe trip over!

Ok, Said a bar guide, more an "away fans" guide. Ie things that football fans enjoy / like: eg how the local bizzies react, places to avoid, places where you'll be welcomed with open arms and above all else... how not to get ripped off at every turn.. As for the defence... its just as good as the midfield.. we're like those fantasy football teams where everyone spends all their money on two or three strikers then tries to get 11 players with whats left over!

Still here.... Just been busy speculating as to which players we will be buying in the Jan transfer window... :) As for the bar guide... almost ready, I'll load it up into the football section of my site over the weekend. As, lets be honest, those that do drink won't even begin to think about bars in Madrid until this weekends liquid ration has worn off!

Difficult to judge really. The team play was shocking and passes went "astray" (read wide by a mile) so he ran his socks off but received no service. Apoel have a big back four and combined with being 10 men behind the ball meant that whilst Kun ran around the crosses never reached him. For me Kun's game is all about be played into space and running onto through balls. Battling away with big defenders for aerial balls doesn't come into it. He does however de a Ian Rush / John Aldridge type of first line of defence pressure on the opposition defenders as soon as he loses the ball. As for Porto, they weren't anything special last year either and they put us out. Apoel and Porto are quite similar really in that they play a set system and have done so for years. They don't try and complicate things and whilst it means they're "solid if unspectacular" it does mean they pick up points on the raod against sides that can't break down defences.

Blue tone, The ticketing is done over two tiers. Look at the 1st photo at the top of page: Vicente Calderon The away area is the top and bottom tiers at the far end of the open part of the ground. On the upper level the away area extends from the red portion into the white and as far as the Entrance. On the lower level it extends from beneath the scoreboard to the entrance. Normally the upper level has a different ticket price to the lower although officially there are four zones with differing pricing. Liverpool and Oporto had two prices Zones from bottom to top for normal league games: 2xx - Expensive 3xx - Most expensive (for being covered) 4xx - 2nd Cheapest 5xx - Cheapest This PDF has the zones marked out and your tickets will correspond to; 205 and 206 307 407 and 507 and the 08s. Places to avoid: At the front of 205, At the back of 307 and 208 at the Left hand sides of 407 and 507 The entrance gates for the two tiers are different and theres no way to change between the two so you'll need to purchase two tickets of the same value. Good news is that once in the ground theres no "enforced seating" and the riot police will simply let you all stand where you want within the sector. Smoking is permitted inside the ground. Finally... Based on last nights showing we're in for a hiding... Apoel had the better of the chances and could have been 3 - 0 up at half time.

Loz, No worries, you wouldn't be doing your job as an Admin if you didn't sniff out the spammers. If anyone still has any doubts no one on this thread has reserved hotels etc via my site and even if they had commision for the hotels mentioned paid to myself would have been around 2€... Not a worthwile time invested if that was what I was here for. For me its more about people having a good time in Madrid as its a great city for football and beer and 24hr drinking (not gramatically correct but beer always deserves to be mentioned on its own). To add a little local colour to things. Atletico are idiots when it comes to European ties. Last year they shafted the majority of the singers / genuine fans by only selling away tickets as part of official travel packages. To give you an idea. Flight Madrid - Liverpool arriving 4 hours before the game, ticket and flight back straight afterwards... €350!!! Not a happy teady :lol: It'll probably be the same routine against you guys and I'm seriously debating it as the "Atletico fans" travelling to the bridge, will, in the majority, be part time supporters out on a jolly... You know the types that spend the whole game sending photos of themselves to their friends on their moviles...

Not a woory guys. Closer to the time I'll give you a list of bars in the center and where to go pre match :lol:

Every cloud has a silver lining... Aguero will stay with us :)

Michael, If you don't want to drink post match you'll be fine. From the city center youre no more than a 7-8€ taxi ride or five stops on the metro..... it is however all uphill on the way to the center :D

Blue tone, I would advise anyone that is not intending to go directly to the hotel and stay there post match to stay well away from the hotels near the stadium. The zone is dead and not a little grubby in the evenings (its a uncared for working district... similar to say Stratford in London). Having said that loads of fans have used the Hotel Praga previously and had no problems although they're well away from any nightlife. My advice: Try any of the following: Tijcal I or Tijcal II - rave reviews from Aberdeen lads Oriente - Was popular with the Bolton guys Should be reasonably cheap.

What I've said comes from teh Atletico communications, Kun's agents and the Spanish press.... so as always the truth is somewhere in between! I do know Atleti and Kun's advisors have put the whole "we're indignant" face on but that could just be a negotiating stance to get more money... :lol:

SydneyChelsea, Clause will be going up to 80M when he signs the contract, it hasn't been signed yet and negotiations have been going on all summer. The gist of things as reported by the press here was that Chelsea wanted to talk seriously to Kun at the begining of August (apparently after other targets were sogned by other clubs) after having spent the whole summer without having made formal contact with Atleti. Atleticos position can best be summed up as one of: "You spent all summer making noises in the press but didn't contact us directly. Now, days before the start of the season you want to talk to the guy?" Apparently the request at the begining of August was one to talk directly to the player BUT without the commitment to pay the 60M. APPARENTLY the confirmation of the willingness to pay the 60M didn't come until the 2nd week of August. All this came after Atleti had said they would start talks with the player (end of June) to extending his term and upping the clause. Kun himself has said nothing more than that he's happy at Atleti and owes them a great deal for having nurtured him, actual words were that "he feels at home at Atleti". His advisors however have gone on record saying that they were appaled by Chelseas actions. Now, reading between the lines it appears that Kun wasn't your first choice and it appears that he was used uin other negotiations as a barganing piece to try and lower the price of the players you were really after. That appears to be the way Kun's advisors have taken things. Atleti seem to have the position of: If you wanted him you would pay up and sign him at the begining of the summer break and they'er a little miffed that contact was only made once Atletis squad was already prepared and in pre season. As for the clause, I understand that the monies only pass via the authorities when its a transfer between Spanish clubs. Lots of conjecture from both sides but I do wonder who it was that knocked you guys back before you focussed on Kun.... As for the supporters here... Well we're resigned to the last year of Kun... and yesterdays god awful defensive showing away to Malaga. :D

Last metro leaves around 0145 depending on the line you take. There are however night buses throughout the city and cost 1€ per trip. Realistically speaking the area around the ground is great for 3hrs prior to the game but post match there's next to nothing and you're better off going to the center (Puerta del Sol). From Sol to your hotel is around 7€ in a taxi so not too expensive.

The Brit, Bernabeu to the Calderon isn't at all difficult: Blue line to Alonso Martinez then on top Puerta de Toledo on the Green line it'll take you between 20 and 30 minutes pre and post match respectively (its the route I take from the north of the city where I live) Coco, Personally I don't like Messi... hes got that Ronaldo habit of knocking the ball 5 yrds in front , barging into the defender and falling over... Not, to my mind in the spirit of the game.

Think the group is tougher than most. Ok, we can dispense with the Cypriot whipping boys but Chelsea, Atletico and Oporto are all tough in their own back yards. I think the away for of the three will determine things and one victory out of the two away trips will do it. Having played Oporto last year they didn't impress me (yep, they still elimiated us: away goals) and their keeper was dodgy as hell... as was ours as two soft goals ulimately cost us the tie. Hulk is a decent center forward of the Drogba mould and caused us all manner of problems. As for us, well the frontline is fantastic, midfield is very week and the defence tries its best to stop the through plays that by pass midfield. At home we're great and play an English style 100% pressure get it to the frontmen asap game but we haven't figured out how to play away effectively yet. Its starting to come together but away games tend to see us trying to play it clever and sit back and that sees us ship a couple of goals. Kun and Forlan do their best to outscore the oppo up front though and 50% of the time they succed. Finally, if you haven't seen his all round play I've long thought that Kun is best compared to your ex player; Zola. Hes a terrier that doesn't give defenders a moments peace and is tireless with a touch of genius at the right moment.

You want to take the suprise out of everything....

Bit rusty on this one but Gatwick > Clapham Junction > Putney then Taxi was how I used to visit a lovely and accomodating S African lass that lived in the area... Ahhh the memories

Another ticket route.... just needs a little Spanish Atletico supporters ticket marketplace You would need to "Registrarte gratis" (top right hand corner) and fill out the form Nombre = name contraseña = password Pais = Country Hombre / mujer = Male / Female Fecha nacimiento = date of birth As I said earlier, I don't get involved in these things so don't ask me to translate. If you do I'm likely to give you something along the lines of "Willing to pay 100€ for a night with a well endowed swarthy Spaniard"

Forgot to add some Flight alternatives: STN with RYR to Valladolid or Zaragoza then high speed train to Madrid (1 hr from each) *** Thats it for today, Leave any questions / queries here or via PM and I'll answer every one of them tomorrow morning ***

TWO top tips for Madrid: If you ignore everything else I say remember these two; - Use the metro. Its clean and fast and costs €7,20 for ten trips which can see 10 people use the same ticket or 1 person ten times. - WATCH YOUR WALLET - Pickpockets are out in force whenever brit football fans come over and get drunk. Its spoiled many a trip previously and last season I ended up having to translate for half a dozen liverpool fans who¡ld had their tickets lifted.

In response to the un edited post... Christ you're a cynical lot... already scared Kun and Forlan will turn you lot over :D

Glad to see thats papered over... onwards and upwards then! Ticketing: You'll receive in the region of 4000 tickets "more or less" in the Fondo Norte far corner. Its split over two levels with pricing I expect to be around 70€ for the lower and 60€ for the upper tiers. If going the tout route expect to pay 40-50% more than face value IF you travel in numbers? Normally tickets for home areas are touted in the bars at the opposite end of the ground. HOWEVER, for the Liverpool game the bars in the Paseo de Pontones we full of touts. These are the same bars that away fans should go to... (Both the Aberdeen and Bolton games saw nasty clashes when away fans went towards the Fondo sur bars). This means getting off the Metro at Puerta de Toledo and gently rolling doan the hill stopping in each bar for a beer and tapas (33cl bottles 1.50€, Litres in plastic glasses 5€).