By Anita Kobylinska
WARSAW (Reuters) - Real Madrid will count on extra dedicated support when they face Atalanta for the Super Cup on Wednesday as 86-year-old Juan Antonio Cobos will cheer on them from the stands, just the way he has for the past seven decades.
In February Cobos, a retired pharmacist, received a gold and diamond insignia of Real Madrid at a ceremony to honour their longest-serving members (socios), where he was recognised for his sixty years with the club.
"It runs in my family, my mother and father were Madrid fans," Cobos told Reuters.
"Since I was six years old my parents used to take me to the stadium to watch Madrid. Since I was a little boy, I have learned it at home."
Born in 1937, Cobos moved to Madrid to study pharmacy at 17 and started to attend the games regularly.
He then met Federico Cano, a dedicated Real supporter who became a friend for life. Together with Cano, they began to follow Real abroad, starting a lifetime adventure.
In 1956 the duo went to Paris to witness the first final of the European Cup, later converted into the Champions League, which Real lifted after beating Reims 4-3 led by club great Alfredo Di Stefano.
"It was an epic match," he said. "That Real was tremendous, the way they won.
"But while watching that game with my friend Federico, we didn't realize that we were experiencing the birth of a competition that was to become so famous in the world. It was impossible to imagine."
He neither could imagine he would go on to witness in person all but one out of the 15 Champions League finals that Real have won to become the competition's all-time leaders.
"I've been to all the European Cup finals except the third, the one in Brussels (in 1958)," Cobos said.
"It's the only one I missed because I had failed a subject and my father said 'Grounded, you're not going.'"
'FAMILY AND REAL MADRID'
Vigorous and with a good sense of humour, Cobos has always shared his passion for family along with Spain's most successful club, and travelling around Europe with the team continues to lift his spirits.
"It can only be understood by those who have this passion for football. I don't know how to explain it either," he said.
"I understand that there are people who don't get it, who say 'He's crazy, he's a madman'. Well, no, I'm far from crazy.
"I have my usual family life, I've been with my wife since 1964 when we got married. She has not come to Warsaw because of health problems. But I am here with my daughter.
"My joy are my family and Real Madrid."
During the last 40 years, Cobos barely missed a stop on Real's European journey. And whenever he did, it was for greater reasons.
He was forced to skip some of the 2005-06 games when he was battling cancer. After that, when the COVID-19 pandemic grounded planes and kept fans away from the stadiums in 2020, it also temporarily separated Juan Antonio from following his team.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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