Real Madrid suffer title blow after Atletico derby draw

Real Madrid suffered a significant blow in their hopes of retaining the La Liga title as ten-man Atletico Madrid held them at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday evening.

Game got off to a cagey start

It was a cagey start to the Madrid derby, as neither team wanted to concede early. The hosts had a couple of decent opportunities through Marco Asensio and Karim Benzema, but neither could beat Jan Oblak in the Atletico goal.

Diego Siemone’s side created few opportunities, instead sitting back, defending deep and absorbing the pressure. They hit their hosts on the counterattack when the opportunity presented itself.

Antoine Griezmann had a golden opportunity to break the deadlock just past the hour-mark, but his effort from the edge of the box was just wide, much to the relief of Thibaut Courtois in the Real Madrid goal.

Neither side wanted to take more risk to push forward and carve out clear-cut chances as the first half ended goalless.

Angel Correa sees red

A slow-burning game exploded as Angel Correa elbowed Antonio Rudiger off the ball. The Argentinian was swiftly given his marching orders.

Despite being down to ten men, Atletico took the lead in the 78th minute when Jose Gimenez headed in with a fine header from Griezmann’s free kick.

Real were spared the blushes seven minutes later when 18-year-old Alvaro Rodriquez headed in the equalizer from Luka Modric’s corner.

Atletico appeared happy with the draw as they sat back, looking to run down the clock. Real tried to get the winning goal before the end, but Oblak gathered a tame left-footed Benzema effort and denied Aurelien Tchouameni in the dying minutes.

The result means that the Los Merengues now trail league leaders Barcelona by 7 points, having played an extra game.  

With the Blaugrana out of the Europa League, Xavi’s side will have their eyes on the title as they could go ten points clear at the summit should they beat Almeira on Sunday.

Atletico meanwhile sit fourth in the standings, ten adrift of their cross-city rivals.

Photo credit: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire