Aragones and '74 spurring Atletico
Madrid's 'other team' do not lack for incentives ahead of Euro showdown with Real - honouring a club legend and laying demons to rest are two
Atletico Madrid will attempt to put one of their most painful nights to bed when they face Real Madrid in the Champions League final on Saturday.
Los Rojiblancos missed out on the European Cup by a matter of seconds to what became an all-conquering Bayern Munich side 40 years ago.
Bayern, featuring Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Mueller, went on to win three European Cups in a row - and yet they almost didn't win the first, as they went into the final minute of extra time 1-0 down.
The capacity to motivate comes from showing them the shirt of this club. The motivation is to play for Atletico Madrid, not against whoever is in front us
The goal had been scored by Atletico's greatest player of all-time, Luis Aragones, just six minutes from the end of extra time, but the Spaniards were denied when Miguel Reina - father of current Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina - let Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck's hopeful effort slip through his grasp.
In the days before penalty shoot-outs, Bayern went on to win 4-0 in the replay in Brussels just two days later.
On Sunday an estimated 200,000 Atletico Madrid fans crowded round the Neptuno fountain and surrounding streets in the centre of the Spanish capital to celebrate their side's first La Liga title in 18 years.
However, amongst chorus upon chorus of chanting, it wasn't inspirational manager Diego Simeone or top scorer Diego Costa whose names were most prominent, but that of Aragones.
The man who also coached Spain to the first of three successive major tournament victories at the European Championship in 2008, died on February 1 this year aged 75.