Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid played out another fiery city derby on Sunday at the Bernabéu, where 77,964 fans watched a five-goal thriller that had just about everything: penalties called and not called, a second-half red card and a rally from Real Madrid, as Los Blancos came out on top by a 3-2 scoreline.
Ademola Lookman had kicked off the scoring with a fine close-range finish from Giuliano Simeone’s back-heeled flick. Vinícius Júnior (from the penalty spot) and Federico Valverde (from a costly
defensive error) brought Real Madrid into the lead within 10 minutes after the second half began, but Nahuel Molina scored a piledriver to equalize roughly 25 minutes from time. Nevertheless, Vinícius scored a blistering goal to complete his brace, and the hosts withstood a Valverde red card to keep the pressure on Barcelona atop LaLiga.
For Atlético, the result keeps the Rojiblancos fourth, one point behind Villarreal with nine rounds to go. After a back-and-forth derby, here are Into the Calderón’s three takeaways.
Costly fouls and mistakes
Even though Real Madrid were able to produce a few dangerous moments in the opening half, most notably a Valverde shot that cannoned off the base of the post, Atlético looked able to weather whatever storm was thrown at them. Key moments from players such as Giuliano, Lookman and Marcos Llorente sparked transition chances and ultimately led to the Colchoneros going up by a goal.
But in the second half, individual fouls and mistakes came to define the game. Dávid Hancko’s misplaced foot gave Brahim Díaz just enough license to take a tumble in the box, and José Luis Munuera called a penalty. For Valverde’s goal, Matteo Ruggeri’s poor back pass to Josema Giménez — and the Uruguayan’s subsequent giveaway — resulted in an easy go-ahead strike. Atleti’s chance to win the derby disappeared in about three minutes.
It’s an easy out to blame the referee, though I certainly have my own reservations on how the match was called. Whether you liked the calls or not, this is the second match in a row where individual errors have been the crux to Atlético conceding goals. With the daunting schedule to come, it will be vital for Simeone’s men to cut out these errors; otherwise, silverware will elude them again.
Lightning strikes twice for Molina
This man only scores screamers. Just a week ago we were talking about Nahuel Molina’s thunderous goal against Getafe that helped propel the team to a 1-0 home win. Sunday, with the squad in search of inspiration, the Argentine once again took matters into his own feet and rocketed a shot into Andriy Lunin’s top corner to bring the game level.
Admittedly, when the former World Cup winner came on as a substitute, I was skeptical. The team had just conceded their second goal and momentum was starkly in the favor of the home side. However, Molina got on the ball in open space and loaded up another worldie of a shot to tie the match.
Though the goal was unable to be the difference maker this time, it was nonetheless an incredible highlight to an otherwise topsy-turvy match. He’s playing with a lot of verve right now, and Cholo Simeone will look favorably on his compatriot’s confidence when it comes time to pick the team against Barcelona after the FIFA break.
Partido a Partido?
As the month of March comes to a close, Atlético de Madrid now enter into the most important weeks of the season. The squad will be looking to keep their hopes of silverware alive with two Champions League games against Barcelona and a Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad. With five matches in the span of two weeks, Los Rojiblancos will be pushed to their very limit.
April begins with a league match against Barcelona at home. After picking up yellow cards in today’s derby, Simeone will be without Marcos Llorente and Johnny Cardoso for that game. The extra rest for these two could be a blessing in disguise, as their Champions League bout against the same side is just four days later. How will Simeone and the coaching staff opt to rotate the team as they get deeper into the month of April? Deciding who to rest or who to start will be a huge factor in the team’s success.
If today’s derby has presented anything, it’s the two sides of Atlético Madrid. At one moment, the squad can be hampered by careless errors or inconsistency, but in another they can flash their ability to challenge some of the strongest sides in Europe. Game by game in a decisive two weeks, we will see if that quality rises to the surface in the season’s most important fixtures.
