Real Madrid – Atlético

Just a month ago the derby at the Bernabéu that Real Madrid won after extra time, despite being subdued by Simeone’s footballers throughout the game. He must have seen something Cholo, who for this clash recovered his more conservative profile, accumulating players in the middle and leaving only Griezmann up front. Ancelotti, for his part, bet on the ‘eleven of the meritorious’, with Nacho, Ceballos and Asensio. The Italian rotated looking for fresh legs for a duel in which the visitors had a lot to gain and the locals had a lot to lose.

Padrón penalty

They haven’t called Atlético a penalty so far in the league and it didn’t seem like it was going to happen at the Bernabéu either. A handball as clear as it was involuntary by Valverde generated one of those Padrón penalties, which some whistle for and others don’t. In this case Gil Manzano, a collegiate with a merengon whiff according to the mattresses, sent her to limbo. Atlético started in a better position, playing and dominating during the first minutes, until Madrid, a diesel team, began to stretch. But at the moment the ball began to pass through Kroos’s feet, the Whites activated with Valverde arriving from the outside and Asensio falling between the lines. Benzema had a couple of shots and Atleti, who lost Reinildo injured, closed like a porcupine.

Ancelotti was not able to decipher Simeone’s sudoku nor did Cholo connect the team with an abandoned Griezmann like Robinson Crusoe in attack. The chess game came to rest with a draw. The game, in its first part, was as cold as the atmosphere, with previous snowfall included during the emotional minute of silence in memory of Amancio.

Simeone naturalized his eleven a little more in the second half with the entry of Correa for Pablo Barrios, which allowed Griezmann to get off the hook with a benchmark ahead to generate more play and accumulate possession. Madrid dominated the duel, patiently waiting for the moment to strike out and solve a complicated obstacle in their fight to stay alive in the League. With eight rental points, it was clear that the League can only be lost by Barcelona, ​​but as long as Madrid demands it. And in this derby, Ancelotti’s men have not given up.

Red, excessive?

The minutes passed and Oblak did not see his frame in danger. Correa’s entry had done Atlético good, but he needed to show signs of life up front, create danger, intimidate a Madrid that was too comfortable behind. On the hour Griezmann woke up the game with a cross shot. Shortly before Carletto put firewood in the boiler with Tchouaméni, Camavinga and Modric for Kroos, Asensio and Ceballos. seconds after change Correa pushed Rüdiger off with an elbow to the stomach. The German fell to the ground and Gil Manzano showed him the red one. Too much punishment? Possibly. Expendable hit? Definitely.

The expulsion conditioned the rest of the game, returning Griezmann to his role as striker-shipwrecked and equipping Atlético again at the back to seek a tie with more emotional than mathematical value, because it definitely distanced Real Madrid from the fight for the title, extending the rent (if Barça wins in Almería) to ten points. The point was not really worth much to the rojiblancos in their fight for the Champions League places, and with nothing to lose Simeone showed his boldest profile by removing Koke and Saúl putting Witsel in with Morata, to allow Griezmann to play between the lines again. Football immediately rewarded him for that courage in a set piece Giménez holed into Courtois’s goal with eleven minutes to go.

Ancelotti shot epically, a field where the whites move well, and the tie came thanks to the work of youth player Ávaro Rodríguez. The bull he headed a corner into the net and woke up a frozen Bernabéu. With six minutes to go, anything could happen. But those of Cholo knew how to cool down more in the afternoon and Madrid says goodbye to the League. Now he has the Champions League and the Cup left. And Simeone does not leave the Champions League, for the financial health of the club.