Madrid (AFP)
Zinédine Zidane clings to his lucky star: in waiver, the Real coach silenced his critics with a victory in the Madrid derby against Atlético 2-0 on Saturday to hoist Real on the podium in Liga, three days after snatching a ticket for 8th grade C1.
The defending champion remains master in his city: with a goal from the head of the Brazilian defensive midfielder Casemiro from a corner (15th) and a brushed shot from the right by Dani Carvajal put back in his own cages by Jan Oblak (63rd), Real Madrid kept its supremacy over the Spanish capital ahead of its neighbor, Atlético, which remains provisionally leader after 13 days.
This 3rd success in a row can make "Zizou" smile again: in the hot seat last week, the French coach reaffirmed his legitimacy in one week, with a victory in Seville (1-0) last weekend, a qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League, as first in group B, after a success against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Wednesday (2-0) ...
... and therefore this authority reaffirmed against its neighbor Atlético to bring Real back to the Top 3 of La Liga on Saturday.
- End of series for Atlético -
On the Atlético side, this match put an end to the superb series of 26 consecutive unbeaten league games (17 wins, 9 draws) of the Colchoneros, straddling last season and the current one.
It was the best current series in the five major European leagues, and the best series in their history in La Liga.
Diego Simeone had to revise his entire game plan after half-time: despite the system of four or five defenders in the defensive phase, Atlético conceded a goal very early in the match and "Cholo" Simeone made three changes from the start, bringing in Angel Correa, Renan Lodi and Thomas Lemar to try to get more depth.
The French international winger had only one opportunity to equalize, in the 54th, but he was a little short, at the far post, to regain a low cross and surprise Thibaut Courtois.
The exit of Joao Felix (60th) unleashed the anger of the Portuguese prodigy who signed a correct performance, like this high class ride in the left lane (36th) stopped by a gross foul by the striker Casemiro.
Ditto for Luis Suarez, replaced by Geoffrey Kondogbia in the 73rd, who sketched a slight ironic smile on joining his bench.
- Real, reinforced concrete jails -
But these Merengues in full rebirth were dominating throughout the meeting: Zidane was finally able to count on an almost complete group (despite the notable absence of Eden Hazard, in the recovery phase) and on found executives.
Casemiro returned from his quarantine due to Covid-19, and Carvajal was recovering from his adductor injuries in his right leg.
These two old captain of "ZZ", scorers, put the team back on track, like Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and captain Sergio Ramos, for whom it was the 43rd derby (absolute record ).
It must be said that the statistics leaned on the "White House" side: when Real played with their defensive curtain type Carvajal-Varane-Ramos-Mendy, they have not lost any of their 17 La Liga games since last season.
With this victory, Real is relaunched in La Liga, three points behind provisional leader, Atlético (26 pts), who could be dislodged Sunday by his pursuer, Real Sociedad, who receives his neighbor Eibar at 2:00 p.m.
© 2020 AFP