Madrid turns Red after Atletico triumph over Real in La Liga

Three headed goals saw Simeone’s men give Ancelotti’s side first loss of the season

Atletico hosted city rivals, Real in the first Madrid derby of the season. José Giménez and Koke return to the Atletico line up for the first time this season after they both picked up injuries at the very beginning of the season. For Real, Joselu dropped to the bench as Ancelotti fielded a much more packed midfield.

A perfect start to the Madrid derby saw Atletico take the lead inside three minutes after an inch perfect cross from Samuel Lino found the head of Alvaro Morata who headed the ball into the back of the net, against his former side, with ease.

A great run from Saul allowed the midfielder to deliver a cross to an unmarked Antione Griezmann, allowing the home side to double their lead just over ten minutes later. Extremely poor defending from Ancelotti’s men nearly saw themselves conceed three, but Kepa was quick to make the save.

From the half an hour mark, Real looked as if they had finally found their rhythm after a Lucas Vazquez cross was cleared only as far as Toni Kroos. The German had enough time to take a touch and strike the ball from range with his strong foot and beat Oblak at his near post.

Real Madrid would’ve gone into the break with the momentum but, it only took Atletico 35 seconds in the second half to destroy that. Yet another Saul assist as his cross found the head of Morata as the striker was uncontested, yet surrounded by three Madrid defenders.

A bundle of shots on the hour mark by the visitors were missed as Real seeked to get themselves back into the game. A blocked Rodrygo shot on the penalty spot fell to, substitute, Tchouameni on the edge of the box which was not far wide from the post.

The substitutions of Joselu and Brahim Diaz provided Real with more dominance in attack but with Atletico having a two goal cushion, all red and white shirts sat behind the ball and defended to retain their lead.

A Jude Bellingham yellow card in the 5th minute of additional time caused a large altercation between both sides. A late challenge on Correa saw the 20 year old enter the books as he felt his first loss since joining Los Blancos.

The final whistle was blown shortly after and saw the home side pick up all three points and close the gap to five points between the Madrid clubs with Atletico having a game in hand. It is a game that Carlo Ancelotti will have to do a lot of thinking about as his side did not seem to get their momentum until it was too late.

Simeone, however, will be ecstatic over his sides conversion and world class build up play leading to all three goals.