The Atlético Madrid defender reflects on the surreal celebrations after becoming only the fourth Englishman to win La Liga
“It was different,” Kieran Trippier says, laughing. This was not the way he had imagined it, the first trophy of his career celebrated in a car park on the edge of Valladolid. Inside the José Zorrilla the Englishman had the last kick of the 2020-21 season in
Spain, smashing the ball into empty seats and roaring as the sound echoed round. It was done. Outside 3,000 Atlético Madrid fans roared with him. They had travelled 195km to be at the game if not actually to see it, to be there the day their team won La Liga. The day Trippier did what he had come to do.
“In the final weeks you could hear fans chanting outside. It was weird but nice too, knowing they were with us,” Trippier says, sitting above the training pitch on a sunny morning at Cerro del Espino. That day particularly, an impromptu title party starting when Atlético left the ground, fireworks and songs going up, players still in kit disappearing among supporters. “We went up this big ramp and there were thousands of fans. As soon as they saw us it was carnage. It’s understandable because for Atlético it was huge. The players started sprinting over and, before you know it, nobody could take control. A fan gave me an
England flag with my face on. It said Peaky Blinders on. That’ll get framed as well [as the shirt].