Madrid (AFP)

Real on the throne of Madrid, Zidane as king and Benzema as prince: Real Madrid, leader, won the capital derby 1-0 against Atlético on Saturday for the 22nd day of Liga thanks to its star Karim Benzema, become decisive again at the best time.

The French center-forward, rather discreet at the start of the game, allowed the Merengues to take the advantage in the 55th minute, taking a perfectly adjusted center from Rodrygo, who came into play at the break after a blow of tactical genius by Zinedine Zidane.

A peak of form that could not be better: mute since December 15 (6 days) and his goal in Valencia (1-1) in La Liga, injured hamstrings of the left thigh in early January, the center forward Karim Benzema, already scorer on Wednesday in Zaragoza in the 8th finals of the King's Cup (4-0), allowed the Merengues to win the derby and consolidate their first place in the standings, ahead of Barça, who receives Levante on Sunday evening in end of the 22nd day.

The result could not be different, given the chasm that has widened between the two teams for three weeks, and Real's victory over the "Colchoneros" in the final of the Spanish Super Cup (0-0, 4-1 tab).

For Real Madrid, which launched its meticulous winning machine, this is the first victory in front of its Santiago-Bernabeu audience in a derby against Atlético since ... 2012 (2-0).

Without shining, the Merengues remained serious and applied in defense, managing to keep their clean sheet for the 12th time this season in La Liga.

A tactical victory also for coach Zinedine Zidane, who knew how to adapt and break his midfielder to return to his traditional 4-3-3 after the break, by bringing Lucas Vazquez in place of Isco, and especially by bringing out Toni Kroos, however very good so far, to launch Vinicius, a decisive passer on the goal of Benzema and dangerous at the end of the match (80th).

- Atlético is not doing well -

Less cruel than his defeat on penalties, three weeks earlier, in the Supercup final in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), this setback still puts a big blow on the head of the "Colchoneros", already knocked outEliminated by a month of disastrous January.

Eliminated in the 16th round of the King's Cup by a third division team (Cultural Leonesa), beaten at Eibar (2-0) and held in check at home by the penultimate of the championship, Leganés (0-0 ) last weekend, "Atléti" had a fourth game without a win on Saturday.

And he did not succeed better in his transfer window, failing to recruit the Uruguayan center-forward of PSG Edinson Cavani, who would have done a good for this Atlético version 2019-2020, one of the most infertile in goals in all history of the club in the Spanish league.

Diego Simeone's men, in the hot seat since the backhand in Jeddah, however did not deserve to be at the Bernabeu on Saturday, granting themselves the best opportunities during the first period, after the minute of silence in tribute to Kobe Bryant, who died on Sunday .

But, as since the start of the season, they terribly lacked realism in front of an irreproachable Thibaut Courtois, to have a chance of winning.

They therefore remain stuck in fifth place in Liga, thirteen points behind the leader Merengue ... but must quickly find a way out of this hellish spiral, before the knockout stages of the Champions League, where the defending champion Liverpool awaits them. from the end of February.

© 2020 AFP