I'm sure I've posted this somewhere else, but this is more of an appropriate thread:
The last match I attended in Madrid was in 1992, but this probably is still relevant...
We bought "last-minute" tickets and were seated in a section directly in front of Valencia's fans. If you know the Primera División, you know that Valencia's murciélagos are die-hard. Anyway...since we were in Madrid, we thought we'd have no trouble rooting for the home team. Madrid actually scored 2 goals first and we went nuts just like everyone else...except for these "young" fans seated behind us. If you don't know what Ultras
are, look on the internet...they have sites. This group was an Ultras group, and they didn't appreciate our cheering so loudly against their boys. (Perhaps, in retrospect, joining in the cheer du jour, a <CLAP-CLAP, CLAP-CLAP-CLAP "Hijos de puta"> wasn't necessarily all that wise.) Luckily we ended up getting a "kinder, gentler" Ultra, who came down and asked us to "tone it down...some of those guys in my group want to 'rumble' after the game."
I told him we were foreign students and simply wanted to enjoy the game. Really we didn't care about the outcome, but since we were in Madrid, we thought it best to root for the home team. That explanation served, and we actually ended up talking with them, since we all (in my group) spoke Spanish. We found out that although ideoligcally and footballistically we were different, we were all youths who enjoyed meeting others.
In short: Due to dialogue and a daring Ultra, there was no fight, and actually a pretty interesting Sunday afternoon at the game.
My advice if going alone is to get tickets well-entrenched in the HOME section...not on the outskirts.
Have fun in El Bernabéu. BTW: Atlético probably has better seats available since they SUCK!!!!