Banners Targeting Julián Álvarez and Atlético Madrid Board Return a Week Later

Once again, banners have appeared on the streets surrounding the Metropolitano. Once again, the same name keeps coming up: Julián Álvarez. And this time, a new name has been added to the list of targets: Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, Atlético Madrid's chief executive.

The story is repeating itself just seven days later. A week ago, around Atlético's training facility, banners had already appeared reading "Julián out," along with one featuring the number 19 (the shirt number Álvarez wears) placed inside a red prohibition symbol with a line through it. That protest, according to the British outlet *The Sun* at the time, was signed by Frente Atlético, one of the club's most hardline supporter groups.

Now, the script has played out again, but with an important twist: the club's board has also become a target. One of the messages hung near the stadium was as blunt as it gets: "Wherever, but he has to leave now!" No ambiguity, no metaphors. Another banner, this one aimed squarely at Gil Marín, read: "Atleti is bigger than your ego."

Discontent That Won't Let Up

What's behind all this? This doesn't look like a passing flash of anger. The fact that the protests have resurfaced within just a week, and that they've now added a new target in the club's own leadership, points to discontent that remains very much alive among a section of the fan base. This isn't the ordinary grumbling that follows a single game: it's something that has persisted over time and, far from fading, appears to be finding new ways to express itself on the streets around the club's facilities.

Julián Álvarez joined Atlético Madrid in the summer of 2024 from Manchester City, in a deal worth around 75 million euros that generated plenty of excitement among Atlético fans at the time. The Argentine forward, a World Cup champion with the Albiceleste, quickly became an important piece of the team. But the atmosphere around him has shifted, and the banners of the past two weeks are the clearest sign of that turn.

Neither the club nor the player has issued any official statement regarding these messages that have reappeared near the Metropolitano. For now, the situation remains unresolved, and everything suggests the topic will keep generating conversation in the coming days within the Atlético world.