Wanda Metropolitano’s 1st birthday
On 16 September 2017, His Majesty King Felipe VI presided over the inaugural match of the Wanda Metropolitano.
The Wanda Metropolitano celebrates this Sunday its first year, 365 days in which we have lived great joys with the consecutions of two titles: the Europa League and the European Super Cup. It all started on 16 September 2017...
That day we lived a historic moment with the inauguration of the Wanda Metropolitano Thousands of people came to our stadium early in the morning to enjoy a day that will remain in all atléticos’ memories. The party started in our fan zone, where our fans enjoyed live music, activities for the little ones and exclusive areas for drinks and food. Later, the festivities continued inside the stadium with the match against Malaga. Before kick-off, our fans could live from inside the inauguration acts of our new house, acts that were presided over by King Felipe VI. Gárate, Fernando Torres and Hugo, player of our Academy, carried out an emotional kick-off in which three generations of atléticos were in.
In the match, Antoine Griezmann scored the first goal in the history of the Wanda Metropolitano, a goal that gave us the victory in the opener match against Málaga. With the match ended, the party continued inside the stadium. Fireworks and a spectacular game of lights put an end to the big party of inauguration of our new house.
After this first win against Málaga came another 19 wins in the 31 official games we have played in this first year in all competitions. 50 have been the goals we have scored in these 31 games from the first by Antoine Griezmann to Borja Garcés. Griezmann's bicycle kick, Saúl's goal against Barcelona, Costa's goal against Arsenal, Torres' goals in his farewell or the four Griezmann goals against Leganés were other moments for the memory of this first year of the Wanda Metropolitano.
Other moments to remember were the first Fan Club Day, the first 'Día del Niño', the semi-final against Arsenal and Fernando Torres’s farewell. On 28 October we celebrated the first 'Día de las Peñas. Since the morning in the fan zone, our ‘peñistas’ enjoyed from the first hour of a festive atmosphere that ended with the match against Villarreal.
On 15 April 2018 we lived the 'Día del niño', a very special moment in the agenda of the youngest atléticos. Our sponsors did not want to miss this moment and collaborated to make this day very special for our little ‘reds and whites’. Indi delighted both young and old on a day when the first team beat Levante 3-0.
Another magical night was experienced against Arsenal on Thursday 3 May. With a goal from Costa, our team made it to the final of the Europa League that would take place a few days later in Lyon. Our fans roared Simeone's players to qualify for the final.
On 20 May 2018, after winning the Europa League in Lyon, our team said goodbye to the official 2017-18 season in a very emotional match for one of our legends, Fernando Torres. The 'Niño' scored the two goals of our team in his last official match with the ‘red-and-white’. After 404 matches defending our shirt, Torres said a ‘see you soon’ in a great farewell
In addition, our stadium became a fortress for rival teams in the league championship last season. Our team conceded eight goals in 19 games and managed to keep a clean sheet in eight games in a row. In all, our team had not conceded a goal in 13 league games. Our solid defense was also reflected in our success in the Europa League, where we didn't concede any goals in any of our four home games.
In this first year there was also the presence of Atletico de Madrid Femenino in the Wanda Metropolitano. Our girls debuted in our stadium on Saturday 17 March 2017 in a match against Madrid CFF. The ‘red-and-white’ draw allowed us to continue leading the league championship.
In addition, the Atlético family also had the opportunity to enjoy and celebrate the titles won by Juvenil A. The team directed by Manolo Cano jumped to the grass of the Wanda Metropolitano on the occasion of the match of our first team against Espanyol to celebrate the titles of the league and 'Copa de Campeones'.
The Spanish national team also wanted to be present in the first year of the Wanda Metropolitano. The national team faced Argentina in a friendly that ended with a 6-1 win for 'La Roja'. Diego Costa had the honor of scoring the first goal of the match, which also made him part of the history of our stadium by being the first scorer in a national team match.
On 21 April, our stadium hosted the national football festival, the final of the Copa del Rey. Barcelona and Seville met in the first final played in our new home.
The Wanda Metropolitano has also been the meeting point for fans of Bruno Mars and Iron Maiden. More than 50,000 people vibrated at the concerts of the Hawaiian singer and the famous rock band.
This season couldn't have started better: in the first league match against Rayo Vallecano, our team celebrated the European Super Cup won in Tallinn against Real Madrid. The Atlético family enjoyed a great party to the champions after the derby played at home.
