Are Atletico Madrid cursed?

The Athletic FC Podcast

The Athletic

Sports, Premier League, Champions League, Soccer,, World Cup

4.0 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On Wednesday night Atletico Madrid found a new way to suffer Champions League heartbreak at the hands of Real Madrid.

Diego Simeone's side were knocked out courtesy of penalties after Julian Alvarez had his effort rule out for a 'two-touch' kick.

From VAR, to penalty shootouts, to near misses, Atleti have once again failed to find a way past their neighbours.

So why is there always something stopping Simeone’s and his team from getting over the line in this competition?

Adam Leventhal is joined by The Athletic's Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero and Phil Hay to reflect on a chaotic night at the Metropolitano, discuss Atleti's 'El Pupas' curse and analyse how Simeone lifts his side for the La Liga title run-in.

Host: Adam Leventhal

With: Phil Hay and Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero

Executive Producer: Adey Moorhead

Producer: Guy Clarke

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode of the Athletic FC is brought to you by TNT Sports, your destination for football's not normal moments.
0:06.3	Whether it's the Premier League or your way for Champions League or the men's and women's FA Cup,
0:10.3	every match day brings drama, excitement and brilliance that simply cannot be explained.
0:15.0	What do we mean?
0:16.0	It's Cole Palmer with ice in his veins scoring a last-minute winner.
0:19.3	It's a trademark lung-busting box-to-box
0:21.4	run by Declam Rice, Islamin Yamal embarrassing defenders almost twice his age. TNC Sports brings
0:27.3	you football in its most unpredictable jaw-dropping glory with the very best domestic and
0:31.6	European club competitions live and all in one place. So forget normal because normal's boring.
0:37.4	From the outrageous to the unexpected with added bits of chaos, craziness and fun that only football can deliver, it's got to be TNT Sports. With the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, Emirates, FA Cup, and Adobe Women's FA Cup all in one place, TNT Sports, not normal.
0:54.8	Stream TNT Sports on Discovery Plus or watch TNT Sports channels on E, Sky and Virgin Media.
1:00.2	Subscription required, it's over 18s only and T's T's and T's apply.
1:08.0	The Athletic FC Podcast Network.
1:12.6	Welcome to the Athletic FC podcast.
1:15.5	I'm Adam Leventhal.
1:17.0	Athletico Madrid's Champions League heartbreak continues.
1:21.2	Julian Alvarez.
1:23.3	Straight down the middle.
1:24.9	He had a little slip.
1:25.9	Oh, didn't he?
1:26.9	So you're getting a message from the VAR.
1:28.8	They're saying no to something. There is a penalty kick check from the previous one. Did he double tap it? Well, it does, doesn't it? It comes off both feet. Well, if that's the case, that's no goal. That's no goal. From VAR to penalty shootouts to near misses, why is it that there's always something stopping Diego
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Athletic, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Athletic and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.