Real Madrid 1-1 Atletico Madrid: Talking points as Madrid Derby sees La Liga top two share spoils

Locked in a fierce battle for the La Liga title, where only a point separates them at the very top of the table, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid crossed swords at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday evening and managed to earn no more than a point each.

Julian Alvarez put Atleti ahead from the penalty spot in the 35th minute, after Aurelian Tchouameni was judged to have fouled Samuel Lino inside the box, and Kylian Mbappe set the score level in the 50th.

Teams

Real have been struggling with numerous injury problems in their defensive line. Four players – all defenders – were unavailable: Antonio Rudiger, Eder Miliao, David Alaba and Dani Carvajal.

In such circumstances, Tchouameni, a midfielder by trade, stepped into the heart of defence alongside 21-year-old Raul Asencio, forming the last defence in front of Thibaut Courtios in goal. Lucas Vazquez was on the right defensive flank, and Fran Garcia, picked ahead of Ferland Mendy, was on the left. Dani Ceballos anchored the midfield, with Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham in more advanced roles. The usual first-choice trio formed the attacking line: Kylian Mbappe, flanked by Rodrygo Goes and Vinicius Junior.

Meanwhile, Atletico boss Diego Simeone had only one player absent – defender Robin Le Normand, suspended through yellow-card accumulation.

With Jan Oblak between the posts, centre-backs Clement Lenglet and Jose Maria Gimenez were flanked by Javi Galan on the left and former Real man Marcos Llorente on the right. Pablo Barrios and Rodrigo De Paul paired up in the middle of the park, with Giuliano Simeone and Lino in wider roles. Antoine Griezmann was joined by Alvarez in attack.

Key moments

Though Real dominated the ball throughout the match, the old cliche of “a game of two halves” may well be used to describe this contest.

Atletico’s defensive setup was absolutely impeccable in the first half. Though the initial lineup consisted of four defenders, the actual number of players in the back line fluctuated from three to six, according to need. Once in their positions, the Rojiblancos made it impossible for opposing attackers, even ones as skilled as those in Real’s ranks, to break their way through.

Ancelotti’s men frequently deployed various schemes, working to overload one flank one minute and the other one the next, but the defensive flexibility and discipline of the visitors thwarted them wherever they went. Whenever Vinicius, Mbappe or Rodrygo managed to dribble or pass past one opponent, they’d immediately be facing another two. There was simply no way through, and they didn’t manage a single shot on target in the first half.

In fact, the only shot on target overall in the first half was the penalty taken by Alvarez in the 35th minute, and that’s the way Atletico wanted it to be. Speaking of the penalty, referee Cesar Soto initially didn’t give it, but the VAR intervened and sent him to see how Tchouameni mistimed his tackle and stepped on Lino’s foot. Courtois tried to put Alvarez off with some goal-line gymnastics before the shot, but the Argentina international was too shrewd for that to work, and his calmly placed effort through the middle made the Belgian goalkeeper look a bit silly.

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But the second half looked entirely different straight away. The discipline and strategy of the Atletico defence suddenly seemed non-existent, enabling the pace and skill of the Real attackers to finally come to light.

Five minutes in, the score was set level as Rodrygo worked his way past Lino on the right flank and pulled the ball back towards the six-yard line for Bellingham, and the England international really should’ve scored from there, rather than seeing Gimenez block his shot from there, but luckily for him, Mbappe was on-hand to put the kind rebound into the net.

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Real exploded into life at that point, and Atletico had the crossbar and the trademark quality of goalkeeper Oblak to thank for not going from being in front to being behind within several minutes. Rodrygo suddenly became too much for Lino and Galan on one side, Vinicius too much for Llorente and Simeone on the other, and Simeone senior in the dugout felt he had to react. He withdrew his son, as well as Galan and Lino, in the 64th minute, making way for Koke, Nahuel Molina and Reinildo.

As the Atletico boss intended, the changes slowed the game down a bit, and in the 77th minute, he did something a bit bold from his perspective as De Paul made way for a more attack-minded player in Angel Correa. At that point, Atletico became dangerous with their refreshed counterattacking pace, and it was Ancelotti’s turn to start making changes.

With 10 minutes to go, veteran Luka Modric and Eduardo Camavinga replaced Ceballos and Vazquez. This meant Valverde dropping to the right-back role to make way for Modric in midfield, while Camavinga took Ceballos’ place at the base.

But though Real continued dominating and seeking a winning goal and Atletico threatened very seriously at the other end a few times, the scoreline remained unchanged.

Title race implications

The points were therefore shared between the city rivals and their respective positions in the La Liga table are exactly as they were going into the match. Real lead the way with 50 points, Atletico are second with 49. Neither will be too happy about that, nor will they grieve overmuch.

It was an opportunity – a long shot, admittedly – for Atletico to overtake Real and they will rue the fall of their effective defensive setup after the break. On the other hand, not losing under the pressure of playing against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu is no small feat, and one slip-up from Los Blancos could toggle their positions promptly.

This is precisely the reason why Real won’t be happy with this result either – they could’ve increased the gap and given themselves some leeway.

Further more, the two Madrid teams have provided third-place Barcelona with a chance to come within a point from Atletico and two from Real, if they beat Sevilla on Sunday.

Real’s attention will now fully turn to Tuesday and the first leg of their Champions League play-off encounter with Manchester City in the northwest of England, followed by a trip to Osasuna, and the rematch against City at the Bernabeu.

As for Atletico, they’ve booked a place in the Champions League round of 16 already and have a week to prepare for their match at home against Celta Vigo.