Sunday night’s dramatic derby with city rivals Real Madrid put Atletico Madrid’s relationship with the radical block of fans that gather inside their ground under a new global spotlight.

After Real Madrid took the lead, Atletico captain Koke and manager Diego Simeone pleaded for calm with balaclava-wearing supporters, who had thrown objects onto the pitch at rival goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois for his supposedly provocative celebrations.

The match was suspended for 20 minutes before Angel Correa’s 95th-minute equaliser gave Simeone’s side a 1-1 draw.

After the final whistle, Atletico’s players celebrated in front of the section where the small number of supporters involved in the object-throwing regularly congregate — behind the goal at the south end of their Estadio Metropolitano, which on Sunday welcomed a record crowd of 70,112.

The whole night shone a spotlight on the more radical elements of Atletico’s support, especially the Frente Atletico ‘ultras’ (fans marked out for their choreographed and fanatical support) and their long and complicated relationship with the club’s hierarchy and the current team.

It also drew further attention to the stormy relationship between the Spanish capital’s two biggest football clubs, including historical grievances on the Atletico side, and the racist abuse Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior has suffered around recent meetings between the sides.

Here, The Athletic dives into the deeper questions behind what happened.

Who are the Frente Atletico?

The Frente Atletico was formed in 1982, originally influenced by ultras movements in Italy and the UK. Atletico recognised it as an official supporters club and encouraged them as they brought atmosphere with chants and banners, motivated players and attracted bigger crowds to the stadium. Frente leaders got to know then-Atletico president Jesus Gil, occasionally socialising with Atletico players and appearing on Spanish radio shows in the 1980s.

Over time, Frente members holding more radical right-wing views took control of the group. They were also attracted by money-making opportunities, as Atletico facilitated the sale of blocks of match tickets that the Frente leadership could control. This continued after Atletico were converted into a private company in 1992, with Gil and film producer Enrique Cerezo taking control in a move Spain’s supreme court later deemed illegal — but no action followed as the court also said that the statute of limitations had passed.

There was often violence involved with the Frente. In the 1980s, some members would ‘defend’ Atletico fans from opposition ultras at away games. There were also clashes with police.

The group became increasingly radical. Frente members attacked and killed Real Sociedad supporter Aitor Zabaleta near Atletico’s old Vicente Calderon stadium in 1998. Despite this, Frente retained its privileges with the club, continuing to sell match tickets and storing its banners and drums at the Calderon.

More recently, in November 2014, Deportivo La Coruna ultra Javier ‘Jimmy’ Romero Taboada was killed during an organised fight between Depor and Atletico fans before a game at the Calderon.

How could such a group still be allowed into Atletico’s stadium?

After Romero Taboada’s death, Atletico revoked the Frente’s official status and banned some members from the Calderon. Over the next few years, Atletico began to modernise on and off the pitch, most notably moving to the Estadio Metropolitano on Madrid’s outskirts. Twelve consecutive seasons of Champions League football under Simeone have brought extra revenue and status as one of Europe’s elite clubs.

But Frente-aligned clothes, banners and chants are still a part of the Metropolitano’s matchday experience. Incidents are less frequent but still serious, including an Atletico ultra displaying a Nazi swastika at a game in May 2018 and a far-right banner flown in their section of the stadium during that year’s Europa League final against Marseille in Lyon.

The scene inside Atletico’s ground before kick-off on Sunday night (Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

There have also been battles for control of Atletico’s most radical fans and the moneymaking opportunities presented by the Frente ‘brand’, such as ‘official’ scarves and T-shirts. A man was hospitalised in January 2018 after a fight between members of different hardcore Atletico groups outside the Metropolitano. A new radical group, ‘Suburbios Firm’, has emerged — its members are already banned from attending home games, but sometimes support the team away.

In practical terms, especially within the stadium, the ‘Frente’ is now more of an idea than an actual group of paid-up members. Ultras from the 1990s and 2000s are older and less likely to attend matches. The club recognise an ‘animation section’ of fans behind the goal but they have long ended the practice of facilitating blocks of tickets for sale by ultras leaders.

Atletico say they can only ban individuals from the stadium after they have committed a crime and that it is impossible (and illegal) to take collective action against groups of people without evidence of wrongdoing. “We cannot expel 200 people from the stadium because someone believes they belong to a certain group or because they wear a certain T-shirt,” a club spokesperson told The Athletic. “The image might be awful, but there has to be a crime committed for action to be taken.”

After Sunday’s events, an Atletico statement said the club was committed to “working with the police to locate those involved, one of whom has already been identified”.

Were they involved in the racist abuse of Vinicius Jr?

Last December, four members of Frente Atletico were charged over the hanging of an effigy dressed to resemble Vinicius Jr from a bridge near Real Madrid’s training ground in January 2023. The mannequin was hung next to a 16-metre banner that read “Madrid hates Real” and was displayed hours before a Madrid derby in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.

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After last season’s Metropolitano ‘derbi’, police identified individuals who were caught on camera racially abusing the Brazilian. Atletico revoked their status as club members, banning them from the stadium. Similarly, when one ‘fan’ racially abused Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams in April, he was also expelled and banned.

Before Sunday’s game, messages on social media circulated with some apparent Atletico fans urging supporters to wear masks to the game to avoid detection by cameras when making racist insults, specifically calling Vinicius Jr a monkey.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois throws a lighter off the pitch (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

No racist abuse of Vinicus Jr was reported on Sunday, although there were chants against him when Madrid’s team bus arrived and whistles for his every intervention on the pitch.

Instead, the focus switched to Courtois, a former Atletico player who moved from Chelsea to Real Madrid in 2018.

How does Atletico’s self-image fit with all this?

Atletico fans, players and club officials have historically identified themselves as scrappy underdogs who fight against authority and power — especially against their richer and more glamorous city rivals. That self-image is deeply rooted within the club and most Atletico fans are convinced the media and authorities support Real Madrid.

Atletico went 14 years without a win against Real Madrid (1999-2013) and still feel that any victory for Atletico over Madrid is a victory for the little guy.

“These are difficult times and people identify with us as we are fighting against many adversities,” said then-Atletico midfielder Tiago in 2014 as Simeone’s side won that season’s league title — their third in 37 years. “We’re like Robin Hood.”

Simeone’s style of football — with its emphasis on hard work and physicality — fits Atletico’s traditions and the emotional connection with the stadium has played a key role. After each game, Atletico’s players salute all four corners of the stadium, starting with their more hardcore fans.

On Sunday, when the game was stopped after objects were thrown at Courtois, Atletico captain Koke and long-serving defender Jose Maria Gimenez ran behind the goal to speak with the fans in the area the objects had come from. Simeone also approached them, making a ‘calm down’ gesture.

After the game, as usual, Atletico’s players gathered on the edge of the penalty area to applaud the Fondo Sur (the hardcore group of fans who congregate behind the goal at the stadium’s south end), which many felt could be seen as a gesture of support for their behaviour during the game.

Simeone in front of the Fondo Sur section at Atletico’s ground on Sunday (Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

What do most Atletico fans think?

As the Frente is not an official group, nobody knows exactly how many members it has or how many regularly attend games. Some ultras who lead chants behind the goal have often covered their faces with scarves or balaclavas to avoid identification.

The vast majority of Atletico fans do not like the Frente at all. Many keep away from the bars where the hardcore ultras drink before games and also steer clear of them in the stadium.

Divides within the fanbase are clear. In November 2022, the Fondo Sur left their area empty for the first half of a game against Espanyol, protesting the team’s poor displays. Fans in other areas of the stadium loudly whistled them when they did enter.

On Sunday evening, when the referee took the players off the pitch in the second half, this divide was again evident. Amid a surreal silence in most of the ground, ultras behind the goal continued to chant and jump and down, only to be met by whistles from other areas of the ground. There were also whistles when the team went to applaud the Fondo Sur on the final whistle.

Atletico players acknowledging fans after the final whistle on Sunday (Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

“I was there and I was one of those who whistled the Frente,” said one Atletico fan (as the supporters consulted for this article work in football, they spoke anonymously to protect their position). “Atletico fans are fed up and embarrassed by what happened.”

Another supporter said: “Ninety-nine per cent of the people in that stand are normal, but those who dominate are the brainless ones.”

Atletico’s ‘embattled underdog’ identity can blend into a feeling of persecution among regular fans, not just Atletico’s more radical ultras. Many agreed when Simeone said after Sunday’s game that Courtois bears responsibility for the way he celebrated Madrid’s opening goal. TV pictures showed him mouthing, ‘Vamos’ (come on) as he moved his hand towards the stands — a proactive gesture, in the view of home fans. Moments before the goal, chants of, “Courtois die” had been heard.

Courtois is not popular among Atletico fans. Since joining Real Madrid, they feel he has been disrespectful towards his former team, who he represented from 2011 to 2014. Like all players who have made more than 100 Atletico appearances, he has a plaque on the ‘centenary players’ walk’ on the stadium concourse. As they always do whenever Courtois plays at the Metropolitano with Real, Atletico fans left rubbish and other debris on his plaque.

What does the rest of Spanish football make of Atletico’s hardcore fans?

After Romero Taboada’s death in 2014, there was a concerted effort from Spanish football authorities to weaken ultras’ influence, even trying to keep them out of stadiums.

Many other clubs — including Real Madrid and Barcelona — have banned individuals and groups. They have also introduced their own ‘official’ animation sections, which are more tightly controlled by club authorities, so behaviour can be more easily policed.

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La Liga’s reputation took a battering following the global uproar at the racist abuse that Vinicius Jr suffered in Valencia’s Mestalla stadium last year and the league’s executives have since reacted much more seriously to any incidents of racism within or around Spanish stadiums, and also online.

Vinicius Jr has been racially abused by fans at several La Liga grounds (Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

La Liga’s official response on Sunday evening to the events inside the stadium was relatively restrained, with a post on X saying there was “zero tolerance for any acts of violence inside or outside our stadiums”.

Local coverage of the events, which made many headlines in international media, was also quite restrained. There were no angry op-eds calling for the Metropolitano to be closed or for the complete banning of all ultras from Spanish stadiums.

The Spanish Football Federation and La Liga have yet to decide what punishment Atletico will receive for Sunday’s incident. They could try to close parts of the stadium for a few games, but that may be difficult to impose. Real Betis successfully appealed such a sanction when a Sevilla player was hit by an object thrown from the stands in January 2022. Atletico also successfully appealed in April when a section of the stand was closed for two games after Williams was racially abused, arguing that it was unfair to punish a whole group for the behaviour of one individual.

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What about Atletico’s international image and the club’s medium-term future?

The evolution of Atletico into one of Europe’s elite clubs continued this summer, with the investment of more than €200million (£166.6m; $222.2m) in big international stars, including Julian Alvarez and Conor Gallagher.

It added to a feeling that Atletico’s hierarchy are looking to take a big leap forward. This summer, €70m was raised from the club’s shareholders, which include UK-Israeli company Quantum Pacific and U.S. investors Ares Management Corporation. Chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin laid the first stone at a new training ground on a site beside the Metropolitano.

Many within the Spanish football industry believe that Gil Marin and Cerezo will sell their controlling interest in Atletico to foreign investors. Sunday’s disgraceful scenes, which echoed around the world, will not have helped drum up interest.

When reporters asked Cerezo on Sunday afternoon about the online hate messages about Vinicius Jr, he first said, “At Atletico Madrid, I don’t consider that there is anyone anti-racist or racist.” Later, at the stadium, he clarified to broadcasters DAZN that he “meant to say that we all have a responsibility to fight against racism”.

Cerezo (centre) in conversation with Real Madrid counterpart Florentino Perez (Oscar J Barroso/Europa Press via Getty Images)

Atletico are keen to project a more modern positive image and have launched campaigns in the stadium and online to educate their fans.

“’We Love Football’ is a project to channel all of our actions aimed to build a sport where diversity, inclusion, respect and tolerance inspire society,” the club’s website says.

On Sunday, Atletico quickly released a statement saying the club was working with police to identify all individuals who threw objects onto the pitch and that they will be banned from attending games. Since Sunday, Atletico have also changed their statutes so that fans who wear masks to avoid identification can be immediately expelled from the stadium.

There is an awareness at Atletico — within the club and among the fans — that their image has been badly damaged. The vast majority of fans are adamant that the Frente does not represent their views and the club say they are doing all they can to stamp out their influence — but the connection is still strong between the team and the section of the stand where there is continuing anti-social (and worse) behaviour.

“The image of the players talking to fans wearing balaclavas, and then going to applaud the stand at the end of the game, was terrible,” said another Atletico fan. “The club still has a lot of work to do.”

(Top photo: Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

Follow live coverage of Arsenal vs PSG in the Champions League today

When European club competition was originally devised back in 1955, it was in the form of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the predecessor to the UEFA Cup and Europa League.

As the name hints, the competition was originally designed to promote European trade fairs, and had a strict ‘one club per city’ rule. On that basis, this week’s Champions League clash between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain is, in basic terms, pretty much what you’d expect. On the basis of domestic titles won, this is the most successful club from each of Europe’s biggest two cities (discounting Russia) playing each other.

But there are several complications.

First, PSG might be France’s biggest club today, but back in 1955, they were 15 years away from being formed.

Second, Arsenal are one of seven top-flight London clubs in 2024-25, and have often finished behind Chelsea and Tottenham in recent seasons. PSG, meanwhile, have been the only top-flight Parisian club for the last three decades.

And when you look at the average attendances of the biggest clubs in both cities last season, the difference is stark.

So how have western Europe’s two major cities managed to do club football quite so differently? Or, more to the point, how come Paris can only support one major club?

The British clubs

London is unique, in terms of boasting so many major football clubs. If we’re slightly generous with our definition of city boundaries, Madrid and Lisbon often feature four top-flight sides, Athens effectively has five this season, while Istanbul can offer six. But London’s seven is highly unusual, and a further three London clubs — Charlton Athletic, Queens Park Rangers and the old Wimbledon FC — have previously played in the Premier League since its formation in 1992. Millwall featured in the top flight between 1988 and 1990 too.

Paris, on the other hand, is highly unusual in contributing just one top-flight club. The standard approach for big cities — Rome, Milan, Manchester — is generally two. But while Paris is an outlier in European terms, it isn’t in French terms. In 2024-25, France’s top-flight features 18 teams from 18 different settlements.

In keeping with many other major European cities, the first Parisian football clubs were formed by Britons. Sides with English-language names like the Standard Athletic Club and White Rovers came into existence in the final decade of the 19th century, and primarily featured British players. In comparison with Nordic, Mediterranean and central European nations, football was slow to develop in France. The authorities considered the rugby version of football to be more sophisticated, and association football was barely played in schools.

The first Olympic football tournament was held in Paris in 1900, and won by Great Britain — or, in reality, by an East London outfit named Upton Park. They had no link to nearby West Ham and were an amateur side, as professional athletes were, at that stage, not allowed to compete in the Olympics. Britain had a hold over Parisian football already.

Meanwhile, as noted by Chris Lee in his book Origin Stories, when France formed a cup competition in 1910, quality and interest was so low from within France that the tournament was an invitational event open to English sides. Therefore, while this was not the Coupe de France — which would be formed in 1917 — the first three winners of a major cup in Paris were Swindon Town, Clapton Orient (now Leyton Orient) and Fulham. They defeated Barnsley, Millwall and QPR respectively at the Parc des Princes, the same site PSG play on today, between 1910 and 1912.

In that sense, you can reasonably argue that London was more influential than Paris in the rise of French football. While the key figure in France’s belated footballing development was Henri Delaunay, the man after whom the European Championship trophy is named, he was inspired after attending the 1902 FA Cup final at Crystal Palace between Sheffield United and Southampton.

Scenes from the 1902 FA Cup final between Sheffield United and Southampton, an inspirational match for Henri Delaunay (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The French clubs

So what about actual Parisian clubs themselves?

Well, the other famous French football innovator of this time — and another with a major international trophy named after him — was Jules Rimet. He formed Red Star, a Parisian multi-sport club, in 1897. They are the only true constant of the last 125-odd years.

When Ligue 1 was originated in 1932, Red Star were one of four Parisian clubs in the top flight. The others were Club Francais (as the name suggests, the first Parisian club formed by French players, and represented France at the aforementioned 1900 Olympics), Cercle Athletique de Paris and Racing Club de Paris.

But these clubs struggled to grow. The Tour de France was created in 1903 and cycling was unquestionably the biggest sport in France. Rowing and gymnastics were also favoured, and rugby was still more popular. Football was, in contrary to what was happening in England, not the sport of the working class — it was favoured by the anglophile liberal metropolitan elite of the early 20th century. Paris was clearly the centre of that, but the game was treated as a pastime rather than to build a town around.

Cycling became France’s most important sport in the 20th century, not football (AFP via Getty Images)

Intra-city rivalries didn’t develop anywhere in France. With some early French competitions only accepting one club per region, combined with minimal public support and a reliance on local councils for income and building stadia, French clubs found that mergers were more conducive to success than city rivalries. Of the aforementioned four clubs, Club Francais were relegated from the inaugural Ligue 1 season and essentially ceased to exist after a merger in 1935. Cercle Athletique de Paris were also quickly relegated, managed another three decades and then also fell victim to a merger, becoming an amateur side.

It was really only Red Star and Racing Club which survived.

Red Star are more notable for being a left-wing club than a successful one, attracting a committed cult support and experiencing a turbulent time on the pitch. In the 21st century, they’ve competed at every level between the sixth and the second tiers.

Racing Club, meanwhile, were briefly managed in the 1930s by Jimmy Hogan — referred to as ‘the most influential coach in football history’ by Jonathan Wilson in his history of football tactics, Inverting The Pyramid — and won a single Ligue 1 title three years after his departure in 1936. They suffered serious financial problems in the 1960s and tumbled through the divisions, but were revived by a famous French businessman, Jean-Luc Lagardere, in the 1980s. He was most notable for his stewardship of Formula 1 team Matra, who won the world championship in 1969.

Lagardere threw money at the side, signings the likes of David Ginola, Luis Fernandez, Pierre Littbarski and Enzo Francescoli, and even appointed Artur Jorge as manager immediately after he’d led Porto to the European Cup in 1987. Lagardere was serious about Racing Club, although it attracted few supporters. After a desperate attempt to increase the profile of the club, and his brand, by renaming it Matra Racing, Lagardere eventually conceded defeat and withdrew his financial support. The club was relegated from Ligue 1 in 1990, and financial problems meant they were double-relegated to the third tier.

David Ginola playing for Matra Racing in the 1980s (Marc Francotte/TempSport/Corbis via Getty Images)

There’s a wider question about quite how football-crazy France is, compared to other European nations. The country didn’t really capitalise on the national side’s fine performance in finishing third at World Cup 1958. Then the national side didn’t qualify for a major tournament between 1966 and 1978. David Goldblatt, in his seminal book The Ball is Round, writes that, “While in Britain the new youth and musical cultures of the 1960s interacted with football, in France they stood as an alternative and an opponent. The counter-cultures of the late 1960s explicitly rejected football and its antiquated provincial hierarchies.”

The lift-off moments were the national team successes on Parisian soil in 1984 and 1998, but the boosts to domestic football — and in particular, domestic support — were negligible. The heroes of those sides soon moved abroad, if they hadn’t emigrated already, in part due to high taxation rates in France.

The modern clubs

So where did PSG come from?

Well, in a sense it was a new club, and in another sense it was another merger. While generally mocked for a relative lack of history — even before the Qatari takeover in 2011 — PSG are interesting in that they were born due to a crowdfunding campaign that attracted startup capital from 20,000 ‘supporters’ who were prepared to contribute to the foundation of a new club, although two wealthy businessmen were the figureheads.

Slightly confusingly, PSG was originally a merger of Paris FC (a club only formed the previous year) and Stade St Germain, although two years after the formation of PSG, Paris FC split from the new club because the city’s mayor refused to financially support a club which technically played outside the boundaries of the city. Paris FC re-established themselves as an independent entity, retained the club’s players and Ligue 1 status, while PSG were relegated to the third tier and had to work their way through the divisions again.

PSG’s first golden era came in the 1990s, when they were taken over by television giants Canal+, but attendances were always relatively modest considering the size of the city they represented. PSG, of course, are unlike any clubs in London in that they carry the name of the city, something they’ve been increasingly keen to take advantage of over the last decade. They’ve made ‘Paris’ more prominent on their crest, and like their name to be abbreviated to ‘PAR’ rather than ‘PSG’ on television graphics.

PSG won the Coupe de France three times in the 1990s (Christian Liewig/TempSport/Corbis via Getty Images)

Also worthy of mention is US Creteil, from the south-eastern suburbs of Paris. Formed in the 1930s, they played in the second tier regularly at the start of the century, and as recently as 2016, although even at that stage only attracted attendances of around 2000. They’re now back in the fourth tier.

But Parisian football is at its strongest point for many decades. Red Star won the third-tier Championnat National last season and are competing in Ligue 2 alongside Paris FC — who are currently top of the table, and aiming for promotion to Ligue 1 for the first time since relegation in 1979. Paris FC also have a strong women’s side, who regularly finish third in the Premiere Ligue (formerly known as Division 1 Feminine) behind PSG and Lyon, and eliminated Arsenal in the Champions League qualifiers last season, although they were soundly beaten by Manchester City this time around.

Red Star’s players celebrate winning the 2023-24 Championnat National (ANTONIN UTZ/AFP via Getty Images)

But those two clubs are still struggling for support. Paris FC averaged 5,500 last season, the 13th-highest attendance of the 20 clubs in Ligue 2. Red Star attracted around 3,500. And the reality is that their dual rise owes little to local support, and more to what many would consider the twin evils of modern football: state ownership and multi-club ownership.

Since 2020, Paris FC have been 20 per cent owned by by the Kingdom of Bahrain, who have seemingly been inspired by PSG’s Qatari-led dominance. Bahrain also act as the club’s main sponsors. “They join us for many objectives — mainly to help them to spread the image of Bahrain in France and Europe,” said director general Fabrica Herrault said in an interview upon the takeover.

The situation at Red Star also feels familiar, and somewhat unsatisfying given their long history of being a left-wing club. In May 2022 they were purchased by a US investment firm, 777 Partners, who also own the likes of Genoa, Hertha Berlin and Vasco da Gama. That attracted serious opposition from supporters, and their protests led to the postponement of a league match two years ago.

With a major fraud claim recently brought against 777, Red Star have been the subject of interest from another American, Steve Pagliuca, who owns Atalanta and is part-owner of the Boston Celtics. According to Bloomberg, Pagliuca “saw opportunities to invest in French football, where lower broadcast revenue has left clubs in need of capital.”

Average attendances in French football are currently positive. Ligue 1 recorded its highest-ever attendance last season of 27,100, while Ligue 2’s figure was 8,650, the best figure for 15 years — although that was boosted by two traditional giants, Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux, unusually, being in the second tier. The Ligue 2 stadiums, in general, were still only 55 per cent full.

In the capital, Paris FC’s 20,000-capacity stadium is only around a quarter full most weeks, while Red Star at least manage to make a modest 5,600-capacity ground in the northern suburbs look busy.

And while the nature of these clubs’ ownership is relatively modern, this is the history of Parisian football. The financial investment arrives before the support — if the support ever arrives at all. Of course, PSG have won 10 of the last 12 Ligue 1 titles and attract an average attendance of over 45,000, although there have been waves of unhappiness from supporters in recent years, and there are sporadic reports that Qatar might consider rethinking its investment.

Arsenal’s Ian Wright taking on PSG in March 1994 (Anton Want/Getty Images)

In general, French clubs are still struggling to generate their own money. Ligue 1’s new television rights deal represents a 12 per cent decrease on the previous agreement, and that’s a joint agreement with DAZN and BeIN Sports, the latter being Qatar-owned and surely less likely to stick around if Qatar isn’t investing in PSG. Unlike in England, domestic football has never become appointment television viewing in France.

If Paris FC continue their fine start to the campaign, next season there will be a top-flight Parisian derby in Ligue 1 for the first time since Racing Club’s relegation in 1990. But with seven top-flight sides, London boasts 42 derbies a year. The difference owes to many factors, including the historic structure of competitions and clubs’ reliance on local councils for funds.

But more than anything else, it’s simply a reflection on wildly varying levels of interest in football.

(Header photo: Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

NEW YORK — The final basket of Breanna Stewart’s 34-point clinic on Sunday to open the WNBA semifinals was never going to be blocked. Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson tried — elevating as high as she could as the seconds ticked down on both the shot and game clock — but the New York Liberty star skied over Wilson’s outstretched arms.

With just over a minute remaining in New York’s eventual 87-77 victory, Stewart elevated for a runner. A step in front of the free-throw line, she leaped, flicked the basketball with her right hand and watched it carom off the backboard and drop into the hoop.

Stewart ran back down the floor emphatically nodding her head after her basket served as a delightful dagger enjoyed by the sellout Barclays Center crowd of more than 14,000 fans.

New York puts the dagger in Game 1 😤

Stewie floater.
Jonquel MONSTER block.#WNBAPlayoffs presented by @Google pic.twitter.com/TuFCI6x75T

— WNBA (@WNBA) September 29, 2024

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What happened next wasn’t surprising either. Stewart deflected a layup by Aces guard Kelsey Plum.

Stewart’s arms were everywhere on Sunday — during that late-game sequence, on numerous New York offensive possessions in which she knocked down nearly unguardable mid-range jumpers, on defensive switches and when her arms got into passing lanes. “Sometimes the ball might be out of reach, but (I’m) still able to make a play,” Stewart said.

Plum might have scored 24 points to lead Las Vegas, but she was only focused on the loss. “That’s the only thing that I really see,” she said.

Sunday’s result was largely because of another L-word: Length.

That New York’s length was impactful wasn’t exactly a surprise. Heading into the series, both teams recognized the other as familiar foes. New York swept its three regular-season meetings against Las Vegas, and, of course, there was history between them last year. The Liberty won the 2023 Commissioner’s Cup over the Aces, and later, more importantly, the Aces defeated the Liberty for the 2023 WNBA championship.

Las Vegas knows what to expect against New York. Nevertheless, before Saturday’s practice, Aces coach Becky Hammon reminded players who they were going up against.

“It looks like an NBA roster,” she said of New York’s length. “It really puts into perspective how big they are and how mobile they are.”

She put the wingspan of each of New York’s starters on a board. Liberty wing Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s wingspan of 6-foot-3 and 3/4 inches is nearly four inches longer than her 6-foot height. Rookie wing Leonie Fiebich stands 6-4 with a wingspan to match. Center Jonquel Jones, who is 6-6, has a nearly 6-10 wingspan.

Then there is Stewart, the two-time WNBA MVP.

She issued a correction to the Liberty’s media guide, which lists her at 6-10 3/4. “I thought my wingspan was 7-1,” she said, extending her arms in a postgame interview. “We’re going to have to confirm with the New York Liberty to re-measure that.”

The size and mobility played immediate dividends for the Liberty. They constantly switched on defense and scrambled when necessary to close out on open Aces. New York disrupted Las Vegas’ pick-and-roll actions. And when the Aces tried to drive baseline? “It was not good things happening,” Hammon said, adding that New York cut off corner opportunities, too.

Stewart’s wingspan made a difference on offense as well. She scored 20 points in the first half and passed Lisa Leslie for the longest streak of double-digit performances (35) in WNBA postseason history. “She had too many mismatches,” Hammon said. “We were switching guards onto her and (Jones) in the first half, and we’re not supposed to do that. They destroyed us in there. Both the bigs.”

Jones finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds. And though Fiebich added only 6 points, she was plus-19 in 35 minutes, leading New York in plus/minus for the third consecutive playoff game. Fiebich is still new to the Liberty’s starting lineup. Before New York’s first-round series last week against the Atlanta Dream, Liberty coach Sandy Brondello started her and moved Courtney Vandersloot to the bench. Brondello said she wanted two playmakers on the floor at all times. But the move had other benefits: Because of Fiebich’s size, strength and length, New York can switch almost any screen defensively. (Sunday’s starters had a plus-85.2 defensive rating in the regular season.)

Fiebich opened the series against the Aces guarding Plum. Afterward, the 24-year-old German rookie wasn’t pleased with her performance. “I’m such a perfectionist on defense that I didn’t really feel like it was great defense,” Fiebich said.

Still, Fiebich repeatedly disrupted other Aces when scrambling around the floor. Most notably, Aces guard Chelsea Gray was hounded by Fiebich at the end of the third quarter and was unable to get a shot off.

Afterward, Vandersloot thought back to one of her earliest memories of Fiebich, seeing her switch onto a center in an early-season contest. “It’s not really a mismatch,” Vandersloot said she thought to herself. “What a luxury that is to have her be able to guard the smallest girl on the floor and then switch out onto somebody without having to get into rotations.”

Of course, the greatest luxury of all for New York is Stewart, who laughed afterward about how hard it is to find long sleeves that fit.

There is an old adage in basketball: You can’t teach height. At this point in the playoffs, you can’t teach length either. Instead, Hammon and her staff will be tasked with trying to counteract New York defenders’ arms. A possible solution?

“You gotta spread them out,” Hammon said. “You gotta get to space. You have to space, and the ball has to move. If the ball doesn’t move, and we grab it and we analyze, their length becomes an issue again because everybody recovers back to their own.”

In theory, Las Vegas knew what was coming on Sunday as well. Aces guard Jackie Young said she knew that New York’s length would affect shots and passing lanes. Gray said it forces players into higher release points on their shots. “That poses a challenge at both ends,” Gray said.

And it did. Gray scored only 4 points on 2-of-7 shooting.

Game 2 is Tuesday evening in New York. Hammon called it “do-or-die.” But at least for one afternoon, the two-time defending champion Aces couldn’t stop what they knew was coming.

New York fans inside Barclays Center waved their arms (and white towels) in delight as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Liberty arms were all over the imprint of Game 1. “They punched us in the nose,” Hammon said. “No doubt about it.”

(Photo of Breanna Stewart: Evan Yu / NBAE via Getty Images)