The weekend could have been perfect for Real Madrid. The day after the first misstep committed by FC Barcelona, beaten on the Osasuna pitch (4-2), the Merengues believed that they were going to win the derby in the Spanish capital on the Atlético pitch. But a goal in added time gave the Colchoneros a draw (1-1), at the end of a game that was often electric.
Without the injured Kylian Mbappé, Carlo Ancelotti returned to his 4-4-2 from last season, and this meeting was tactical for a long time, and poor in chances. We had to wait for a free kick quickly played by Luka Modric and good work from Vinicius Jr to see Eder Militao open the scoring with a superb volley (0-1, 64th).
Atlético reacted after the interruption
Atlético supporters took out their anger on Thibaut Courtois, throwing projectiles at the Real goalkeeper, which caused an interruption of around fifteen minutes (69th). On the pitch, the Colchoneros did not show much, even if Diego Simeone had lined up two attackers (Sorloth and Alvarez), alongside Antoine Griezmann. But upon returning from the locker room, Cholo’s coaching made the difference and his players ended up reacting.
After a first alert for Samuel Lino (82nd), who forced Courtois to make his first save of the match, Atlético managed to equalize thanks to Angel Correa, who left behind the Real defense (1-1, 90th +4). And after a painful end to the match, with a red for Marcos Llorente on a nasty tackle (90th+5), and a violent head-to-head clash between Tchouaméni and Gimenez, the two teams parted back to back, but not good friends.
This draw is rather the business of Barça, who remain three and four points ahead of Real and Atlético. And the Merengues can now plan on their trip to Lille in the Champions League.
