Why music superstar Bad Bunny presents a Champions League headache for Atletico Madrid

News

Martin Macdonald | Author

Atletico Madrid face a logistics issue for the Champions League final, should they reach it, thanks to music superstar Bad Bunny.

Los Colchoneros will play Arsenal in the semi-final of the tournament over two legs, having overcome Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate in the quarter-final last week.

They actually lost the second leg 2-1 on the night, but a 2-0 victory in the first leg helped them progress against their fellow La Liga side.

Atletico have reached the European Cup final once in 1974 and the Champions League final twice in 2014 and 2016. On those last two occasions, they were defeated in heartbreaking fashion by arch-rivals, Real Madrid.

They've never won it and will hope to buck that trend by first surpassing Arsenal, while they will face either Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain, should they progress.

If they do reach the final, they will need to find another venue to host a watch-a-long as their Wanda Metropolitano stadium will be used by music superstar Bad Bunny on 30 May.

Normally, Atletico would allow fans who don't have tickets to the final to come into the home stadium to watch on large screens.

But, an alternative venue will be needed due to the presence of the 2026 Super Bowl half-time show musician, who is playing 10 nights in the Spanish capital.

At the moment, Bad Bunny is the highest-selling Spanish-language musician on the planet and so has a big following in Madrid.

This isn't the first time this has happened, either.

The last time Atletico reached the final in 2016, they couldn't use their former Vicente Calderon home as Paul McCartney held a gig on the same night.

The FootballTransfers app

Check out FootballTransfers' new app for all of football's big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.

The FootballTransfers app is available in the Apple App Store. Download here:

•App Store