Madrid
Updated:18/09/2021 00:14h
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It is not yet nine in the morning and there are two hours until the ticket offices open, but more than a hundred fans are queuing around the Vallecas Stadium to buy a ticket for today’s game against him Getafe (2:00 p.m., Movistar + LaLiga). Just a few hours before and in this same venue, a crowd gathered on Thursday to attend the presentation of one of the summer signings: Radamel Falcao. Nobody wants to miss the debut of the Colombian striker, although to do so you have to wait on your feet for more than midmorning. The illusion has overwhelmed the Madrid neighborhood, which has not experienced such a media signing since the also unexpected arrival of Hugo Sánchez, in 1993.
A few meters from the door that gives access to the stadium ticket offices is the official club store. A small enclosure decorated, as is usual, with phrases that draw the idiosyncrasy of the club. Normally, to buy the shirt of a particular player you need to reserve the screen printing, but not with Falcao’s, whose clothes stand out on a shelf. “I’ve been working here for fourteen years and I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s crazy», The shop assistant tells ABC. Just at that moment, a young fan enters the premises, who, without thinking twice, goes straight to the jacket that wears the 3 on his back. He looks at it, touches it and takes it. “You can’t prove it,” the salesgirl warns him. Covid standards. Only sizes S and XL remain, and a glance can tell you that neither of those is yours. “Maybe the XL will do for me, don’t you think?” He says, more praying that it is so than actually asking. “I do not know when more sizes will come, but they will come,” assures the clerk, who still does not believe what is being experienced during these last days. “I can’t tell you the exact number, but a lot of shirts have been sold. They are almost sold out, ”he explains.
Shortly before, another fan has had more luck. Is named Cristian, has been a subscriber member of Rayo for three years and has just bought Falcao’s shirt. «His signing makes us very excited. He is a player who assures you goals. Someone very great and a professional. Although in recent years he has had no luck with injuries, we trust him. At first there were some skeptical people, but it is Falcao, and if he has three, he will give you at least one », he predicts.
Back in the queue, come out Daniel with your input. “An hour and a half waiting,” he says. «I have been a subscriber for twelve years and I have never seen something like this. A presentation like the one on Thursday, at the stadium, with so many people … Never », he reiterates. Regarding what he expects from Falcao, he wants to be cautious, although the size and career of the Colombian prevent him from doing so: «We know him from Atleti and Porto and it was … Although I don’t want to get too excited. I think he has come to contribute and help the players think that permanence is more than possible. The fans, as long as they see that they try, will be happy. I’m sure he will get close to fifteen goals because scoring is not forgotten.
In the queue to buy tickets there is also a certain anger. The long wait is due not only to the excitement over the signing of Falcao, but also to a way of operating by the club that denounces Angel Domínguez, Chairman of Minority Shareholders. «The directive has the team abandoned. We are the only club that does not have online ticket sales enabled. The ticket clerk, who had been in his post for ten years, resigned the other day because the situation is untenable, “he says. In his opinion, the return to Primera, the lifting of restrictions and, of course, the signing of Falcao, have created the ideal cocktail for a hobby eager to re-vibrate with their team in the stadium, for which he regrets that the club make it so difficult. “People work and it is difficult to stay all morning to buy a ticket. There is a lot of desire to see the team and Falcao, and it shows. In sports, he is an exciting signing, veteran but with quality. And he wants to play the World Cup, so he does not come to walk, “he says hopefully.
Falcao, like others before
The Colombian is not the first star to arrive in Vallecas. In 1992, the club surprised when it incorporated Anton upholstery, Austrian international who in just one season scored 15 goals in 31 games. His departure, although painful, was immediately alleviated with the arrival of Hugo Sanchez, the last media signing of Rayo to Falcao. The Mexican’s figures were not far behind either, since in 35 games he saw the door on 17 occasions. All of them, as will happen this afternoon with Falcao, were encouraged from the stands by another of those who queued yesterday. His name is Julian, and was already a partner of the team in 1985.
«The signing of Falcao? I love it! I know him from when he played in Spain and he is a great player », he says excitedly. His son, also Julian, accompanies him this morning, and recalls with his father other signings that mobilized the neighborhood. “When Hugo Sánchez came it was milk,” he says, although his father argues: “But it was not the same, this presentation has been bigger,” he says. “They are other media times, Dad, but I remember that when I was a child and Rayo signed Fernando Morena, it was also incredible.” They just got their ticket and both chests swell when asked what makes their team special. «We are from the neighborhood and from the Rayo of all life. A neighborhood of workers and retirees that boasts of having a team in Primera»Says the father. «We are the black chickpea in the stew. In a League where there are millions and millions, we, without money, are in the same place », adds his son. «And a very good hobby. I’ve been coming for a lot of years and within the field there is a lot of respect. What is outside is something else “, says Julián, who boasts of having the membership of 2,127:” I am one of the first. “
Predictably, Falcao will play his first minutes against Getafe today. The Colombian will return to Spain six years after leaving Atético, where he scored 70 goals in 90 games and left as a world star. He did not shine as brightly as then, weighed down by continuous injuries, but in Turkey, his last experience, he showed that he had his scoring nose intact. «I feel good, I have been able to focus more on the physical. Now I need to play and add minutes. My dream is to be able to give Rayo many goals and joys. It is a pride to be here, “he said in his presentation.
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