Although queues usually tend to lead to disaster at big events, the endless line of Unionistas de Salamanca fans who swarmed around the Helmántico Stadium that gives access to Las Pistas hours before the start of the match against Madrid saved their place. Although there were some fearful at the time, progressively the human snake was adorning the interior of the facilities, as in a kind of coral invasion. “Where is the mayor? Where is the mayor?” chanted some of the first fans to enter, referring to the pressure received by the city’s chief executive for the meeting to be held at the Helmántico, with four times more capacity (17,000 for 4,000 seats ) and just 50 meters away. The party took place at Las Pistas, and there Madrid, except for the scare of the momentary draw, resolved the crossroads with a goal from the mysterious Bale (who did not celebrate) and two from Brahim.
It would be because of the circumstances surrounding the game, that return to the origins of the most basic and authentic football, that Zinedine Zidane did not want to experiment too much and handed over the baton of the team to most of the available fixtures. Apart from the presence of Areola in the goal, the entry of players like James, Bale, Nacho and Vinicius, with a sign of titularizables In the not too distant past, he unmasked the fear of an encounter so atypical that it could even infect the outcome.
It is true that to play football you only need a ball and two goals. However, to survive in adverse conditions many things are necessary that move away from glamor and appeal to feeling. Madrid came out determined to resolve the ballot in the first rounds, as if they did not want their rival to find faith with the passing of the minutes. Well organized, the Unionists resisted with a certain tradition the first bars, the first races, those that serve to fill the piggy bank of confidence. However, in a poor header clearance inside the box, the ball landed on Bale’s right boot and his volley shot slipped past Brais Pereiro’s left post. The Welshman, apathetic, did not celebrate it. Rather he drew a gesture of regret.
If before Melero López signaled the start of the match from the Las Pistas loudspeakers, Ska-P and its iconic Worker’s vouchers —with more volume when Madrid jumped to warm up—, throughout the match, with the exception of minute 23, when the anthem of the extinct UD Salamanca was chanted at the top of their voices, the charra fans believed that it could be done. The rage of local coach Jabi Luaces, when Góngora’s centers did not find Garrido’s head, breathed air into David. Although Goliath, Dressed in green, with an orderly game and no desire to stumble, he stringed together passes and more passes and looked for Bale over and over again. With the help of James, who crashed the ball into the crossbar after a good personal play, Madrid intimidated the Unionistas in his way, who despite everything did not lose face in the game.
The tie reward
Madrid’s mallet this course is still far from forceful, so despite its excellence and great team trade, its lack of goals continues to give opportunities to anyone who refuses to bow their heads. The team from Salamanca did not do it, nor did his fans, who filled their stomachs with empanadas at half-time, and cleared their throats with water to continue accompanying his team on this journey through the desert that the match had become .
The Unionists did not fear their fate, trying to protect the greatest rival that has passed through their house, with their heads held high and their hearts in their mouths. And that audacity had its reward in the form of a goal, with a play of enormous skill by Álvaro Romero. The small Unionistas player (he measures only 147 centimeters), picked up a poor clearance from Marcelo and after changing direction with two movements from the waist he sent the ball to the bottom of Areola’s goal. That affront warmed the body of Madrid, which reacted thanks again to a lucky goal, this time from Brahim, whom Zidane trusted after weeks of ostracism. In stoppage time he rounded off his comeback with a second goal from a low shot. By then Bale had been replaced, again with physical problems.
“Very good guys! We have stood up!” The thanks of the public to their players once the duel was over was like that caress that relieves but does not console. They also believed that the challenge was salvageable, but although the defeat was the result of their effort, no one will ever take away the merit of having talked in the same vein with Madrid at Las Pistas.