There was no tifo for the semi-final at the Metropolitano. In its place came a pre-match shower of toilet rolls — papelitos.
01Riyadh Air Metropolitano
Papelitos
It is a familiar South American pre-match ritual, and one that the Calderón used to stage too. For this match, Frente called on supporters to bring their own rolls, allowing the tradition to return.
After throwing my own, I kept throwing the rolls that landed beside me from the upper tier. It was tremendous fun. Experienced supporters tear them into sections first so that one roll can be thrown several times. Outside the stadium, supporters were handing out paper; one person simply arrived carrying a family pack of twenty-four rolls to share.
That road covered in snow and ash, those threads reconnecting countless memories — what kind of future do they lead towards now? Let us keep walking and find out.