Nothing seemed to be able to stop Real Madrid. Neither the fate which befalls its squad, deprived on Sunday of Thibaut Courtois, David Alaba, Antonio Rüdiger, Eder Militao (injured) and Aurélien Tchouaméni (suspended), nor its great Madrid rival. But Real, long ahead in the score this Sunday, ended up cracking at the end of added time against Atlético (90th + 3), following an angry header from Marcos Llorente, a former member of the house.
The fourth confrontation between the two Spanish rivals was immediately rhythmic: Real had the initiative but Atlético had the first clear opportunity with Antoine Griezmann on the pass, Alvaro Morata on the finish but Andreï Lounine on the save ( 8th). This good situation did not find an echo among the Matelassiers, who retreated throughout the match, as if to better reassure themselves in the face of the offensives orchestrated in the right lane of Real by the Vazquez-Diaz duo. The second opened the scoring (1-0, 20th), for what will paradoxically remain the only really hot situation for Carlo Ancelotti’s players before the break.
Even dominated, Atleti almost came back several times, on a header from Axel Witsel which Lounine deflected with his fingertips (23rd) then another, from Stefan Savic, whose attempt on the following corner failed narrowly close (24th). Formidable in the air, the Montenegrin defender scored with a header before half-time but his goal was canceled for an offside by Saul (48th).
After the break, danger was the prerogative of Real for a long time. Jan Oblak had to work to repel a shot from Rodrygo (65th) and the Slovenian goalkeeper was very happy to see Diaz’s curl go wide (69th). But the Merengues, more tender at the end of the match, will end up blaming themselves for having lacked precision. If Griezmann, scorer in each of the three previous derbies, was very close to scoring with a backheel (76th), Marcos Llorente managed to snatch an unexpected equalizer with only a handful of seconds remaining (1 -1, 90th+3). His goal ended a series of six successes in La Liga for Real, who thought they could create a small gap on Girona, slowed down on Saturday by Real Sociedad (0-0).
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Winner in the first leg in the derby (3-1), Atlético is assured of completing a fifth year without having conceded a defeat in La Liga against Real since Diego Simeone took office in 2011. Opta
The player: Diaz, the lucky entrant
Brahim Diaz expected to experience the start of this derby from the bench. And even when Vinicius was injured, he did not necessarily seem likely to start since Ancelotti would have thought, for a moment, of preferring Joselu to fill the absence of the Brazilian. But Diaz was a good starter. to the delight of the Bernabeu stadium which warmly celebrated its goal. After having judiciously served Vazquez in the area, the Spaniard of Moroccan origin benefited from two favorable counterattacks, deflections from Saul then Koke, to score from close range (20th).
Enterprising, inspired in his dribbling and his directions, the little left-hander was very close to scoring the goal of the European weekend: frozen in the opponent’s area for a second, he suddenly accelerated and sent a small bridge on Mario Hermoso before making a small hook to open up a shooting angle and hit… right next to it. To the cheers of an audience who warmly applauded him on his exit (71st).
