Drama continues in heated Madrid derby as two teams draw

Real Madrid extended their unbeaten run to 40 LaLiga games despite Ángel Correa’s injury-time equalizer secured a point for Atletico Madrid in the Madrid derby. Atletico fans caused the match to be suspended for nearly 20 minutes following  Militão’s opener. Both teams remained undefeated in all competitions.

A chance to close the gap with Barcelona

Only Atletico managed to beat Carlo Ancelotti’s side last season. They scored three or more goals against Real Madrid in La Liga, Copa del Rey and Supercopa. But Diego Simeone restored to his cautious approaches in recent games.

Despite a spending spree in the summer, Atleti struggled with chance creation at the start of the season. Similarly, Real Madrid fall short of hefty expectations after adding Kylian Mbappé to their glamorous squad.

The former PSG winger was starting to find his feet before joining the club’s long list of injuries in the wake of midweek’s win against Deportivo Alavés. As a result, Luka Modric comes in his place as Jude Bellingham lined up behind Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo.

Simeone made two changes from the team that started the win against Celta Vigo. Match-winner Julián Alvarez replaced Giuliano Simeone while Rodrigo de Paul restored his place ahead of club captain Koke.

An extra significance was added to the game after Barcelona’s perfect campaign suffered a blip away at Osasuna. A Real Madrid win would reduce the gap with the league leaders to a single point. Atleti can surpass their city rivals with a third consecutive win over Real Madrid at Metropolitano.

Atleti fought back under difficult circumstances in Madrid derby

But neither side did enough to take the lead in a frantic first-half exchange. Alexander Sørloth has another off day as Simeone made two substitutions before the hour mark. The visitor’s attacking line didn’t fare much better. Atleti fans booed Vinicius Junior throughout the game. 

Simeone’s changes focused on taking control of the game. Koke was brought on at halftime before Samuel Lino’s introduction set them up to play with five at the back for the majority of the second-half.

However, his gameplan took a major hit when Éder Militão’s deflected effort put the European kings ahead. Fans throwing objects into the pitch didn’t help Atleti’s attempts to give an immediate response.

Instead of tossing instructions to his dejected players, Simeone had to intervene with the hope of a quick restart. But it took nearly 20 minutes before the referee allowed the teams to continue proceedings.

Simeone changed his system once again as Correa entered the scene to partner Antoine Griezmann. Before Ancelotti tweaked his starting lineup, Simeone made all five substitutions.

Real’s defense was shaky during the closing stage after allowing Alavés to get back in midweek’s game. An Argentine and Brazilian nearly combined to tie the game as Lino’s effort was denied by Thibaut Courtois after De Paul’s inch-perfect delivery.

Atleti salvaged a point after a similar ball down the left flank put Correa one-on-one with Courtois. Barcelona would equally celebrate the scrappy equalizer as it stretched the gap between them and the record champions to three points.

What’s next for Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid?

Atletico will travel to Portugal’s capital Lisbon as they take on Benfica under Wednesday’s floodlights. Since they replaced Roger Schmidt with Bruno Lage, Benfica won four successive games scoring 14 goals. Atleti will play on Sunday primetime for the third time in a row when they travel to Griezmann’s first Spanish club Real Sociedad next weekend.

The defending champions will be without Mbappé for the trip to LOSC Lille and Villareal’s visit to Santiago Bernabéu. A thigh injury means the French superstar is out for roughly three weeks as he misses the chance to play against his younger brother Ethan Mbappé. He targets returning on time for next month’s El Classico.

PHOTOS: IMAGO.