Cerezo on Atletico's start: "Our current position is not normal"

The president of Atletico Madrid, Enrique Cerezo, has confidently stated that the team will "take flight again starting on Saturday" against Villarreal, hoping to "break out of the slump" that has plagued them at the beginning of the season, because "their place in the standings isn't normal."

"We're preparing to see exactly if we can truly emerge from this slump that we've been in from the start. We haven't started well. Our current position (17th) isn't normal, but anything is possible in football, and we hope that starting next Saturday against Villarreal, we'll start clicking and start adding points," he said.

Cerezo, who participated this Tuesday in the presentation of MADCUP 2026 and the review of the first edition of Sports Summit Madrid held this year, highlighted the quality of the Atletico squad, which is now "definitively closed."

"From the very beginning, from the start of the season, we've believed that we have a magnificent team, a fabulous manager who knows all the players very well. What we want is for that team to gel and start performing, and to start doing what we really intend to do, which is to win titles and strive for everything possible," he insisted.

The president commented that the Metropolitano stadium "is possibly the definitive candidate" to host the 2027 Champions League final. However "we still have to wait and see what UEFA decides" next Thursday, and he responded to the question of whether he would award the Ballon d'Or to Barcelona player Lamine Yamal.

"Well, the truth is that he's a great player, but since I'm not the one who gives them out, nor the one who prepares them, nor the one who awards them, I'll tell you that I don't know. I'd give it to Julian Alvarez, for example," he stated.