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

By Duncan Shaw Sep 16, 2009, 17:57 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 capital's inhabitants, are in an excellent mood because of their expensive team's 5-2 opening win away to FC Zurich on Tuesday.

Supporters of Atletico Madrid, in contrast, have woken up under a cloud, as a result of the depressing 0-0 draw at home to minnows APOEL Nicosia.

'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.'

Abel Resino's hapless team have been drawn in Group D along with giants Chelsea and FC Porto - and are already in big trouble.

Just like during Saturday's 1-1 draw at home to 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 is front page news in most Madrid newspapers on Wednesday. The headline of AS is 'On The Road To The Tenth', in reference to Real's bid to win their tenth Champions Cup.

Real, which has failed to get past the round of 16 since 2004, are determined to reach this season's final, which will be staged 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, which actually raked in more from sales than it 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, having scored in La Liga in the defeats of Deportivo Coruna and Espanyol.

The only bad news for Real on Tuesday 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.