By The New York Times (Europe) | Created at 2024-09-27 14:37:59 | Updated at 2024-09-30 05:28:54
2 days ago
Europe|The Sudden Appeal of the Bulldog Spirit
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/27/world/europe/atletico-real-madrid-derby.html
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Atlético Madrid had pulled out all the stops to celebrate its new signing: strobing lasers and sparkling fireworks and, for reasons that were not entirely clear, a couple of thrumming motorcycles. Standing in the middle of it all, waving happily at the crowd, Conor Gallagher seemed just a little dazed.
He had, after all, spent most of the last two years being treated essentially as a balance-sheet asset by Chelsea, the club where he had spent most of his career. He had fought for, and won, a place on the team. He had, at times, served as its captain. He had played for England. And still, Chelsea just kept trying to sell him.
And now, before he had even kicked a ball for the team he had eventually joined, a thousand miles from home in Spain, he was being feted as a star. He wore a broad, faintly startled grin and an Atlético jersey with his name on the back. There was just one element he did not understand: Why did the club keep referring to him as El Pit Bull?
Several players have been granted that nickname by the club over the years. Gary Medel, the combative Chilean midfielder who once claimed that the police had used a Taser on him after a particularly fractious game, for example. Or Edgar Davids, the Dutchman given the moniker because of his tenacious man-marking: Once he had locked in, the logic went, he just would not let go.
Gallagher is, it is fair to say, cast in a very different mold. He is not — as Medel and Davids were, in very different ways and, although you would not say it to Medel’s face, at very different levels — a player defined by his ferocity. The 24-year-old Gallagher’s primary traits are his energy, his industry, his indefatigability. He is not a pit bull. He is a springer spaniel, or perhaps a Labrador.
Atlético, though, had its nickname, and it was not going to give it up easily. Gallagher’s signing was trailed with a graphic of a pit bull, complete with leather jacket and spiked collar, in the style of a 4Chan meme. It was mentioned in the midst of his operatic unveiling. The fans have picked it up and run with it. “It has kind of stuck,” Gallagher has said. “I don’t mind. I see it as a compliment.”
