Real Madrid went into the international break with an embarrassing loss, and they’ve come of it with one that stings even worse. They’ve fallen 2-1 at home to their city rivals Atletico Madrid, who turned in a spectacular performance at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Atleti took advantage of some woeful set piece defending in the tenth minute to take an early lead. It is not clear why nobody bothered to pick up Tiago from Koke’s corner, but neither the defence nor the goalkeeper covered themselves in glory as the midfielder glanced his header just inside the near post.
Madrid were back on level terms within 15 minutes, with Ronaldo winning a penalty against Guilherme Siqueira and sending Miguel Moya the wrong way for the equalizer. Madrid could have easily taken the lead in the first half – Moya produced some brilliant stops and Karim Benzema managed to blow a one-on-one by producing one of the worst first touches ever seen.
In the second half, Atleti were more defensively sound and the hosts didn’t find it easy to break them down. They had to commit more bodies forward to find a winner, and eventually the plan backfired. The introduction of Arda Turan and Antione Griezmann opened up the game, eventually leading to a go-ahead goal for Rojiblancos.
Raul Garcia set up Turan for the goal with a dummy, letting a square ball from the right flank find the Turkish star at the top of the box, but there was plenty of work left to do. His shot was well placed at the top corner of the post, giving Casillas little chance to stop the shot.
Real Madrid had no answer for their rivals, in the dying minutes Atleti looked more likely to score and were completely comfortable at the back, never looking threatened.