In order not to lose touch with leaders Barcelona, Real Madrid were condemned to victory in the Derbi madrileno – and they delivered. It went back and forth in an intense game, with Real ultimately saving the three-pointer despite being outnumbered.
Real coach Alvaro Arbeloa had to replace the injured regular keeper Courtois after the 2:1 defeat at Manchester City in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16, with Lunin stepping in between the posts. At rivals Atletico, Diego Simeone also made just one change after the 3-2 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur: Captain Koke started for Molina.
The game started intensely straight away and with the hosts having the advantage: Musso in the Atleti goal had to make an early save from Carvajal (2nd), Fede Valverde then hit the post (9th). On the counter-attack, Atleti had their first chance through Llorente, whose shot was pushed over by Carvajal. Lunin only managed to keep the ball out at the far post, and there was no VAR check for a potential penalty (10′).
Real make the game – but Lookman scores
After a few quiet minutes against the deep-lying Rojiblancos, Real got into a promising position from a corner kick, but Vinicius Junior’s shot was blocked by Simeone in front of the line (22′). The Whites continued to try, but could not find a way through. However, the hosts then went behind after a neat counter-attack: Lookman latched onto a long ball, Ruggeri ran behind and passed to Simeone, who crossed with his heel before Lookman slotted home to put Atletico 1-0 up (33′).
With the lead at their backs, the visitors continued to close the gap, Real searched for the gap and found it with a header from Tchouameni (42′), a mistake by Musso was then cleared by Hancko in the highest emergency (45′), so that Atletico went into the break with the lead.
Atletico give Real a gift – Molina counters fantastically
After the break, however, the visitors handed out gifts: Hancko brought down Brahim Diaz in the penalty area – Vinicius Junior thanked him from the spot with the equalizer (52′). Shortly afterwards, Fede Valverde intervened with a short backpass to substitute Gimenez and then kept his cool in front of Musso to turn the game around (55′).
Atletico were now forced to be more active again: Alvarez had two finishes (60th, 65th). The Rojiblancos then came back with a dream goal. Lunin had no chance against the powerful finish from Molina, who had come on as a substitute beforehand – the ball hit the corner perfectly (66′).
Vinicius Junior scores a brace – but Valverde sees red
The equalizer was short-lived, however: Vinicius Junior had too much space in the sixteen and scored with a flick to make it 3:2 (72′). But things continued to get heated: Fede Valverde was shown red after a foul on Alex Baena in midfield. A harsh dismissal for hitting Atletico’s joker on the foot with his studs at point-blank range (77′).
Real had to tremble once more, especially when Alvarez hit the post with a long-range shot (81′). A free-kick from substitute Alexander-Arnold then almost provided the fourth goal, but in any case brought relief (84′). Atletico were unable to come back in the six minutes of stoppage time and lost again after four wins in the league. Real stay in touch with leaders Barcelona thanks to the derby win.
After the international break, both clubs will play on Saturday: Real host Mallorca at 4.15pm and Atletico face FC Barcelona in the evening (9pm).
