THE VITALS:

Team: Atletico Madrid

Brand: Nike

Era: 2005-06 (Used for the 2005-06 La Liga season, and half of the 2006-07 La Liga season)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This shirt comes to you in very good condition, with the shirt displaying nothing more than the signs of wear that you would expect from a shirt of this age.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: XL Boys

Pit to Pit Measurement: 18.5 inches

Shirt Length: 27 inches 

Made in the Total 90 mould introduced by Nike ahead of the 2005-06 season; this shirt has a very dense material, however, despite it being XL Boys in size, this shirt provides excellent dimensions for a size small fitting football shirt.

DESCRIPTION:

After the previous season’s shirt used thinner whiter and red stripes amidst a sea of red, this season’s shirt would be almost exclusively be red! Just two white stripes mostly break up the red, while there are also two thinner white stripes that precede the side panels. This particular model would be sponsor-less, as Atleti’ were still advertising the latest movies that were out in the cinema before utilising KIA as the main shirt sponsor. This shirt would also be reprised as the club’s home shirt in the second half (no pun intented) of the 2006-07 season, after their was mass dismay at the half and half shirt Nike crafted for ‘Los Colchoneros’ to be used in 2006-07 season!  

THE SEASON:

After finishing a somewhat disappointing 11^th in 2004-05, Atletico Madrid moved to bring in Carlos Bianchi as manager, meanwhile, to lighten the load up-top on the ever burgeoning Fernando Torres, came the arrivals of: Maxi Rodriguez, Mateja Kezman, Luciano Galletti and Martin Petrov. On match-day 3 of the La Liga season, Atleti’ would stun the La Liga champions: Barcelona 2-1 at the Vicente Calderon to make it 2 wins from 3, however, from there, draws and inconsistency would blight the club’s progress as soon as they started to get the wheels turning. In spite of their aberrations, Atletico would make things very difficult for Spain’s best teams, including completing the double over Barcelona with a 3-2 win at the Camp Nou. By the season’s climax, the club would replace Bianchi with Jose Murcia, and have to settle for a 10^th place finish and another Copa del Rey semi-final heartbreak.

The notable players that season were:

Fernando Torres, Mateja Kezman, Martin Petrov, Maxi Rodriguez, Gabi, Luciano Galletti, Ariel Ibagaza, Peter Luccin, Luis Perea, Pablo Ibanez, Antonio Lopez, Leo Franco, Ivan Cuellar