In the final few minutes before the derby day that was destined to be the best they ever had, Diego Simeone gathered his players and asked if they were OK. The pressure was intense, their need desperate, but of all the things that are truly important in your lives, he wanted to know, is there anything that’s not right? Does anyone have any problems?

“All of them said ‘no’,” Atlético Madrid’s manager admitted later, when the Metropolitano had finally fallen silent, the singing drifting in from down Avenida de Luis Aragonés instead. “So I said: ‘then play, have fun. You’re good. Enjoy yourselves. A footballer’s life passes quickly, make the most of it; these games don’t come back.’”

And sometimes they never go away. Saturday’s left Real Madrid just wanting to get as far from there as they could, a plane handily waiting to take them 7,500km east the following day, and Atlético enjoying a moment that will be for ever. Asked what an astonishing 5-2 victory over Madrid meant, Simeone gave a two-word reply, offering only “three points” and a full stop, but if the players had bought his message before the game no one was buying...