The Real Madrid adjusted a little more The league after taking the most atypical derby in the Di Stefano before a Atlético de Madrid inoperative who wasted a golden opportunity to secure his candidacy for the title. It was the twelfth tactical battle between Zinedine Zidane and Diego Pablo
Simeone And on this occasion, as in the previous two, the winner was once again the French coach, more ambitious and successful in his approach than the Argentine, who mutilated his team with a fearful strategy when he had a blow of authority in his hand in the domestic championship. The mattress defeat points back to Simeone, recurring target of criticism every time Madrid wins a derby, either in League, Cup, Champions or in the Super Cup
from Spain.
If in their confrontations with him Barça he Athletic usually looks his most voracious and uncomplexed version, before the Madrid Normally the opposite happens, as the team comes out timid and dwarfed. There was no trace of Atlético's dynamic and courageous game in the preceding days. Luis Suarez was a zero left in the Di Stefano Nor did Marcos Llorente show any signs of life on his return to what was his home. The only one who shed a little light on the bleak picture mattress was Joao Felix, replaced at match time by Simeone in a change that will bring a tail due to the reaction of the young athletic star, outraged in the stands.
The victories against Seville and Monchengladbach They have had a revitalizing effect on a Madrid that seemed dying just two weeks ago and that was proven in a derby that was only white. Atlético once again repeated the same sins that suffered so much in previous matches against him Madrid. The rojiblancos entered the clash with expectation while their eternal rival took advantage of their winning inertia to impose their story from the beginning to the end.
(+) Relive the best plays and goals of the Madrid derby:
Atlético ended a streak of 26 league games without losing and did so precisely against the same team that defeated them for the last time. It was in February 2020, in pre-pandemic times, and Madrid beat Atlético 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu thanks to a solitary goal of Karim Benzema. Atlético's first league defeat comes, moreover, conceding the same goals in a game as in the entire competition (2).
As it happened before Seville and Gladbach, he Madrid rescued his best version when he needed it most to surpass a Athletic reduced to nothing in Valdebebas. Ambitious, orderly and with all the heavyweights enlisted for the cause, the team of Zinedine
Zidane He completed his best week of the season without conceding a single goal.