Real 1-1 Atletico: Barcelona emerge as the real winners from a feisty draw in the Madrid derby
- Mayank Srivastava
- Feb 9
- 3 min read
La Liga table toppers Real Madrid were restricted to a draw by their noisy neighbors, Atletico Madrid, in an intense and feisty derby at the Santiago Bernabeu last night, which ended with a scoreline of 1-1.
The deadlock was broken by Julian Alvarez’s remarkable ‘panenka’ penalty after a controversial decision was given in favour of the visitors.
Just 5 minutes into the second half, Kylian Mbappé pulled Real Madrid back, which went on to be the final goal of the game, resulting in both teams walking away with a point each.
The stakes of last night’s Madrid derby were very high, as just a point separated the two sides from going clear at the top of the points table.
Real had the chance to go 4 points clear at the top with a win, while Atletico had the chance to move into the first spot and go 2 points clear at the top.
However, the draw has resulted in both teams staying put, giving a massive advantage to FC Barcelona to crawl back into the title race.
A big opportunity missed by Real Madrid
It just did not seem to get going for the Los Blancos as they missed a golden opportunity to steer clear in what appears to be the most intense La Liga title race we have witnessed in years.
Despite their dominance in possession throughout the game and continuous waves of attacks in the second half, Real failed to secure the 2 extra points.
With the lack of clinicality in their finishing along with Diego Simeone’s deep line of defence, Real were not able to carve out many clear-cut opportunities in the game while failing to convert the ones that they did, apart from Mbappé's equalizer.
As per SofaScore, Real Madrid created 5 big chances last night and managed to convert just one.
They also registered a total of 23 shots, with 9 of them being on target. Despite that, they recorded an xG of just 1.69.
With 50 points in 23 games now, Real stay just a point ahead of Atletico, while providing a golden opportunity to Barcelona to reach within a distance of 2 points from them.
Oblak’s stunning performance earns Atletico Madrid a crucial point
Atletico’s legendary Jan Oblak produced a masterclass yet again as he managed to prevent Real Madrid from completing a turnaround against his side.
The Slovenian goalkeeper produced a staggering 8 saves last night, with 6 of them coming from shots taken inside the box.
Unlike Real Madrid, Atletico were efficient with their shots on target, converting the only shot that they had on goal. However, they were quite wasteful with their chances.
As per SofaScore, the Los Colchoneros registered 10 shots in total, with just 1 of them being on target.
Atletico had a strong first half but got dominated in the second half following a tweak in Real’s tactical game plan by Carlo Ancelotti.
If it weren’t for Oblak’s masterclass in the second half, Simeone’s men would have walked out of the Bernabeu with nothing to show for.
“Advantage, FC Barcelona”
Having led the La Liga points table until mid-December, the poor run of results resulted in Barcelona falling from the 1st spot to the 3rd spot, trailing behind two of their biggest rivals.
With just 4 wins out of 11 matches played in La Liga since the beginning of November, Barça have gone from being 6 points clear at the top in matchday 11, to being 5 points behind the league leaders Real Madrid.
However, last night's draw was the best possible result for FC Barcelona, as they now have a golden opportunity to jump right back in the title race with a win against Sevilla.
A win tonight would push Barcelona to a distance of just a point from Atletico Madrid in 2nd place and just 2 points from Real Madrid at the top, blowing the La Liga title race wide open once again.
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