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Atletico Madrid remain confident that their new Wanda Metropolitano stadium will host its first game by mid-September, despite consistent reports in the local media that transport links and other work around the ground will not be completed in time. Atletico are leaving their Vicente Calderon ground having redeveloped the former La Peineta athletics stadium into a 67,000 modern home, a move that was over three decades in the making. After La Liga's authorities gave permission for Diego Simeone's side to play their first three 2017-18 fixtures away from home in order for work at the new stadium to be completed, Atletico's first game at the Wanda has now been set for Sept. 16 against Malaga. Despite a deal last February which saw Atletico agree to pay €44 million for the required transport infrastructure to bring fans to and from the ground, local media reports say official permission has not yet been granted for the construction of access links to the nearby M-40 motorway. An Atletico source told ESPN FC that the club had no doubts at all that the stadium would be ready for the Malaga game, and it could even host a Champions League group game on the previous Tuesday or Wednesday should Friday's draw mean they open their European campaign at home. "The only scenario that exists for the club and for the authorities is for the stadium to be inaugurated on the 16th [of September] or the first game of the Champions League if the draw so determines," the source said. "The works around the stadium do not need to be finished, but to be designed and planned out, and they are." Last September when Atletico's move from the Calderon was being debated, opposition Socialist city councillor Mercedes Gonzalez joked that "helicopters" would be needed to bring 67,000 fans to the new ground for games. However, sources within the Ahora Madrid town hall administration have told ESPN FC that while permission from the central government has not yet been granted to begin work on remaining road links, good quality public transport and bicycle lane provision is already in place to bring fans to and from the new stadium. Meanwhile, regional president Cristina Cifuentes visited the Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday to personally see how work was progressing, and told reporters that the "marvellous" new stadium would be a "sporting and tourist attraction" for Madrid and "one of the best, if not the best" football grounds in Europe.
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