Real Madrid-Atlético Media Liga belongs to Madrid

The time has come to deny everything, to expand on the topic, to appear fearful, to search history to argue past misfortunes that serve as future warnings, but Madrid has half a league. It was after a derby of little action, as is convenient for a team with more science than physics. Half Benzema, the Modric of the Ballon d’Or and two of suspicious starts were enough: Militao and Vinicius. Limitao Y Ficticius, in funny that circulated in the networks. Now they are proof that patience is a vaccine that works. Atlético, who looks at 13 points, was not much worse, but has less goal, the back door is left open too many times and is abandoned by some of its figures. Griezmann especially. Who knows if João Félix and Lemar would have done better for him.

The party had a previous question: who would accept the ball. Atlético de Simeone has never been enthusiastic and has generally done well. To Madrid, depending on the days. Now it doesn’t drive him crazy either. Since the time of the BBC, it has never been persistent in pressure especially now, with veteran players being overexploited in the lead roles. Ancelotti caught it on the fly. He understood that crises are easily washable and changed the pace of the team after his only black week of the course (Villarreal-Sheriff-Espanyol). Since then, wait and run. Or fly: reached the derby with nine consecutive victories.

Benzema’s volley

This time, the enthusiasm of the Bernabéu and Atlético changed the script and he had an uncomfortable start, because forced to take the initiative he was exposed to the first rojiblancas ambushes. Simeone’s team is a hymn to the unexpected, always between miracle and disaster, but he entered the game with better footing, with a 4-4-2 in a certain unexpected way that sent Hermoso to the side and opened the field with Correa and Carrasco. That was marching, he had had two chances of half hair and he felt that what he proposed was being played until Madrid caught him with the same trap. Modric teamed the ball to Koke with the rojiblanco team coming out. What followed, with those of Simeone disarranged, was a symphony: Casemiro-Benzema-Asensio-Vinicius and final volley of the unappealable French to temperate delivery of the Brazilian winger from the right, where nobody expected him. It is difficult to explain why the Ballon d’Or has passed so far to Benzema. A haute couture goal in a designer counter. There Madrid does not forgive one.

With the goal, the plan that Ancelotti has in mind returned: a more intelligent than dominant team, especially if it takes the hand. He left the ball to Atlético for the insubstantial and looked for a second surprise that did not come before the break.

The meeting happened to be nobody’s, because neither the skill of Modric and Kroos nor the strength of De Paul took hold. The rojiblanco effort was not accompanied by precision. It held Madrid, it took him away from his area, but he did not progress on the sides or in the center.

Courteous, milagroso

And the thing is that Ancelotti’s first Madrid, built from front to back, has turned around. His defensive quartet is the safest asset on the team. Even the Bernabéu has learned to chant Militao when a central defender was never considered a galactic here. The main hole in the team was presumed there, with the exits of Ramos and Varane, and now it is the safe in which he keeps a large part of his advantage. In the first half everything was denied to Atlético, whose best opportunity came from set pieces. It was a left-footed shot from Griezmann that Courtois guessed well. In the state of grace that the Belgian lives, it is difficult to find a crack in his stick.

That game with very low activity, with little to tell, was more convenient for Madrid. So Simeone’s swerve with Lemar and João Félix, who is starting to get cold in the squad, was explainable. In five minutes the Portuguese had already tested Courtois and had given half a goal to Cunha, who also ran into the Belgian. It was a whirlwind exit, even more appreciable compared to Griezmann, without any presence in the Madrid area.

The lace

Ancelotti’s team was also weakened with the departure of Benzema. He arrived with a mission and left when he considered it completed. His physical condition hung by a thread and he did not want it to break. Before João Félix rocked the derby, Asensio let go 2-0. He received from Vinicius and the saint went to heaven for looking for his good leg. Extremely lefties have these things. And also others, because shortly after the incontinence of Felipe opened the field for Vinicius, who with a cross pass to the area left Asensio this time in his sauce, the left. And that is a cannon.

With the 2-0, Simeone shook the team again, now with Suárez and Lodi and a clearer 3-5-2. But the Madrid midfielders do not release such tied prey: they keep the ball, they lower the light on the game and take away the strength and even the desire of the opponent. Especially Modric, inexhaustible source of wisdom and dedication. And when all else fails, there is Courtois, in an extended version. He took out two venom-laden shots from Lemar and João Félix and lowered the blind on Atlético. Who knows if definitely.