16 February 2019
Wednesday, 1 January 1964: Juventus inaugurated the New Year in Madrid in the return of the first quarter final of the Fairs Cup. In Turin, the Bianconeri won 1-0. In Spain, they repeated that display with a great performance that allowed Juve to progress into the next round.
With Atletico in Real's home
The game was played at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. The festive occasion encouraged a large crowd of 70 000 people to watch the game, with the majority of the spectators sporting black and white colours. This was because they were fans of Real Madrid and not Atletico. Football legends such as Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas were also in attendance in the stands.
Immediately in front
Despite being without Omar Sivori, who remained in Italy for family reasons, the team responded with a frenetic start, as revealed in the monthly Hurrà Juventus: "Juventus' victory, because football is a strange and unpredictable game, could have ended very differently. It was in fact enough that the Bianconeri would threw themselves forward at the start of the game to secure the success. After only five minutes Juventus scored the first goal. Gori made a throw-in, giving the ball to Dell'Omodarme who gave it back. Gori "sought" then with a long pass to the striker Nene, who was in the middle of the Spanish side’s area. Calleja intervened and, on the rebound, the ball still reached Dell'Omodarme, who struck a precise diagonal shot and the goalkeeper was beaten.”
Luis Del Sol magic
The goal in favour of Juventus stunned the hosts, and it was Juve who took the opportunity to immediately double their lead. Luis Del Sol was fundamental. At the time, he was very well known in Madrid for being part of Real. Nevertheless, Atletico didn’t exercise any particular tactics to mark him out of the game. The Spanish midfielder took the opportunity to make a free throw that found Menichelli, whose left strike was aimed between the poles... There was nothing to do for the goalkeeper, Madinabeytia, as the scoreline soon turned 0-2.
A particular climate
The tough defeat for Atletico, which came after only nine minutes on the clock, generated a climate of protest by the public. The target? President Javier Barroso, who landed up resigning 20 days later, left his position to Vicente Calderon, who later remained as the head of the club for 21 years. A year later, in 1965, the Los Colchoneros would land up smiling again, after celebrating a victory in the Copa del Rey.
