This Sunday’s match between Atlético de Madrid and Athletic Club at the Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano will be extra special, given that the home side have offered to wear their away kit so that the visitors can take to the field in the red and white stripes that these two clubs share
As the capital city club explained: “At this Sunday’s league match between the two clubs at the Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano, we will honour the 125th anniversary of the Bilbao institution, from which Atlético de Madrid emerged, by organising various activities. We will give the Basque team the honour of wearing the red and white colours that we both share.”
While many people know that these two clubs both wear red and white and both have similar names, not everyone knows that their relationship is more formal that that.
Today’s Atlético de Madrid was established back in April 1903 as Athletic Club de Madrid, with the founders being Basque fans of Athletic Club de Bilbao who were studying in the Spanish capital and who wanted to maintain the connection with their team.
Athletic Club de Madrid naturally took their colours from their ‘parent’ club, which had been established five years previously. Both initially wore blue and white chequered shirts, before switching to their current red and white stripes in 1911 after famously receiving a set of jerseys originally made for English club Southampton.
The two Athletics were so close during their early years that they were not allowed meet in official competition. They even shared players at times; the Madrid side’s star forward Manuel Garnica Serrano was ‘loaned’ to the Basques for the 1911 Copa del Rey final and he clinched the goal against CD Espanyol of Barcelona.
As Spanish football gradually became more formalised and professional, the two Athletics drifted apart. In 1921 the Bilbao side were crowned national champions after a 4-1 win over their Madrid ‘brothers’ at San Mamés. Full autonomy was well established by the time they were both became founder members of LaLiga in 1928/29. A first top-flight meeting came on April 7th 1929 at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid, with the visitors winning 3-2.
Games between the two have often been fiercely contested through the decades, as most sibling rivalries can turn heated at times. A famous 6-6 LaLiga draw in January 1950 saw Moroccan-born Larbi Benbarek among the scorers in a last gasp Atlético de Madrid comeback. Athletic Club’s 4-1 victory at San Mamés with 10 men in October 1982 was a key victory on the way to winning that season’s LaLiga Santander title. A 2-1 victory at San Mamés in April 2014 has been acknowledged by current Atleti coach Diego Simeone as the moment he knew his team really had what it took to take home that season’s LaLiga Santander crown.
There have also been famous meetings in other competitions. The 1956 Copa del Rey final saw Athletic Club win 2-1 in Madrid. And, Atlético de Madrid came out on top 3-0 when the two rojiblanco teams met in the 2011/12 Europa League final in Bucharest, their only meeting to date in UEFA competition.
Connections between the teams continue to this day. Former Athletic Club sporting director José María Amorrortu was academy director at Atlético de Madrid from 2006 to 2011, working with current first team stars such as Koke, before moving north and helping to develop local Basque talents including Iñaki Williams and Iker Muniain.
Current Athletic Club player Raúl García made 216 LaLiga appearances for Atlético de Madrid between 2007 and 2015. The Pamplona-born midfielder’s goal in a 1-1 draw at San Mamés some seasons ago means he is one of very few to have scored for both sides in the fixture.
The sibling rivalry continues this Sunday at 18:30 CET at the Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano, when Simeone’s side hosts Ernesto Valverde’s Athletic Club in a LaLiga Santander match. Fans and players from both teams will enjoy the occasion, although past connections and the gesture with the kit will count for little with three points at stake.
