Madrid a city of contrasts due to Champions League (News Feature)

By Duncan Shaw Sep 16, 2009, 9:08 GMT

Madrid - Madrid awoke on Wednesday with distinctly mixed feelings about the Champions League.

Supporters of Real Madrid, who constitute almost 70 per cent of the Spanish capital's inhabitants, were in an excellent mood because of their expensive team's 5-2 opening win away to Swiss side Zurich on Tuesday.

Supporters of Atletico Madrid, by contrast, woke up under a cloud, as a result of a depressing 0-0 draw at home to minnows APOEL Nicosia of Cyprus.

'Atletico Take Their Crisis into Europe' was the headline in sports daily Marca.

Atletico have made a poor start to the season, with just one point from their first two Liga matches. And now, according to radio station Cadena SER, 'they will find it really difficult to qualify from a tough group' which also features Chelsea and Porto.

The same as during Saturday's home 1-1 draw against Racing Santander, the nervous, disjointed display of Diego Forlan and company led to the long-suffering fans venting their ire on unpopular president Enrique Cerezo.

In sharp contrast, the Madrid media are delighted with Real's romp in Zurich.

Real's handsome win was front-page news in most Madrid newspapers, with the headline of AS 'On The Road To The Tenth', in reference to Real's bid to win the elite event a 10th time.

Real, who last won the competition in 2002 and have failed to get past the round of 16 since 2004, are determined to reach the final set for May 22, 2010, in their own Estadio Bernabeu.

To that end, club president Florentino Perez has spent a record-breaking 256 million euros (374.31 million dollars) on seven players this summer - unlike Atletico, who actually raked in more from sales than they spent on purchases.

The most expensive player of all, Cristiano Ronaldo, was one of the stars in Zurich, scoring with two of his trademark free-kicks.

According to Radio Marca on Wednesday, 'he (Ronaldo) is already starting to pay back his transfer fee (a world record 94 million euros).'

Ronaldo has scored in all three of Real's official matches this season as he also found the net in the league wins against Deportivo La Coruna and Espanyol.

The only bad news for Real was the injury suffered by Xabi Alonso, another of their expensive signings. He had to limp off after taking a heavy blow to his right Achilles tendon, and will probably be out of action for at least a week.