In the last seven meetings of the Madrid derby, Real were unable to win. Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez’s goal in the 88th minute ended the streak as the 10-time European champions advance to their fifth Champions League semi-finals in a row.

With injuries to striker Karim Benzema, winger Gareth Bale and midfielder Luka Modric, plus left-back Marcelo being suspended, manager Carlo Ancelotti had to go to his bench to put together a starting XI. Luckily his side has a significant amount of depth. Spanish international Isco replaced Bale, Portuguese international Fabio Coentrao replaced Marcelo, Mexican international Chicharito, on-loan from Manchester United, started over Benzema and central defender Sergio Ramos replaced Modric to be the team’s holding midfielder. Ancelotti’s decision to play Ramos over Asier Illarramendi, Sami Khedira and Lucas Silva is a telling sign that the Italian does not trust his other midfield options but the Spanish international was solid playing in front of the back four and was a constant threat on set-pieces.

Atletico played their typical pragmatic style staying disciplined, organized and active while defending and thwarting attacks through shrewd positional awareness. When going forward they used striker Antoine Griezmann as an outlet to start counter-attacks with his pace while attempting to link-up with his partner Mario Mandzukic. Earlier in the match though, Los Blancos dictated the pace of the game with James Rodriguez playing on the right wing and creating chance after chance that Cristiano Ronaldo and Chicharito couldn’t finish. Goalkeeper Jan Oblak was in fine form and made many key saves to keep the Rojiblancos alive. Midfielder Arda Turan received a yellow card in the 31st minute when he fouled Toni Kroos. That yellow card was pivotal in deciding the final result. Heading into halftime 0-0, last year’s La Liga winners looked to have the game exactly where they wanted it.

The second half featured Los Merengues still maintaining the majority of possession, but Diego Simeone made a questionable substitution in the 65th minute when Griezmann was replaced by midfielder Raul Garcia. The French international was arguably the only player on Atletico’s side trying to create goal scoring opportunities and once he was subbed out his squad basically gave up trying to score and seemed to be hoping for a penalty shootout. With 14 minutes left in the match, Turan unfortunately received his second yellow card and was sent off giving Real Madrid the advantage. Around the 88th minute, Los Blancos’ well deserved goal finally appeared when James played a one-two with Ronaldo and the reigning Ballon d’Or recipient squared his pass to the man famous for being a super-sub, who took a touch and put Real into the last four.

“It’s a Madrid derby and recently these matches have not brought many positive moments as Real hadn’t won one since the Decima win in last season’s Champions League final. It might have been me who scored the goal but it belongs to everyone – those who have had confidence in me, my team-mates and my family. This goal is for all of them. This is the most important goal of my career, yes, because only the present is important. I might have scored other important goals in my career, but what matters is the present,” said Hernandez to Canal Plus.

Just like last year’s Champions League final between the hated rivals, this match ended with Atletico’s players and coaches trying to cause an altercation instead of suffering defeat with dignity, but Simeone was more calm when he spoke to reporters.

“We competed well, I am proud. We have a team of men who work, have pride and I am very grateful. Except the first 10 minutes when we did not play well, I don’t think it was a bad game. The other team had the ball but we had the feeling we covered the gaps very well,” said Simeone following the match.

The 32-time La Liga winners are in the semi-finals along with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus. The draw for the final four will be on Friday but Los Blancos are closer to their goal of becoming the first team in the Champions League era to achieve back-t0-back successes.