• Chronicle. Real Madrid complexes Atlético in the derby

  • Real Madrid: A derby under the beat of Kroos

From the Santiago Bernabéu to the Alfredo di Stéfano.

From that bustling February afternoon to this silent December night.

10 months later, Atlético's 26-game unbeaten streak came to an end against the same Real Madrid that had reset the counter before the pandemic.

Despite the defeat, the rojiblancos went home with the lead, at the expense of what Real Sociedad does today against Eibar, and three points ahead (with one game less) over the Whites.

The League tightens.

Along the way,

Joao Félix

went to the bench with a good frown and

Simeone

waved his board, with all sorts of movements, some surprising, that failed to take effect.

And it is that Atlético was overcome in the start by the pressure and precision of Real Madrid.

So much so that Simeone had to modify his until now infallible system of three centrals and two lanes, to return to the essence of the past: the classic 4-4-2.

When he did, midway through the first act, his team was already behind on the scoreboard, something that had not happened in the league all season.

The tactical retouch allowed the rojiblancos to recover part of that offensive spirit that has led them to command the classification with two games less.

Before conceding his third goal of the course,

Jan Oblak

had already drew his glove to clear

Benzema's

left-footed shot towards the post

, which would have been a goal in front of any other goalkeeper.

But not from the Slovenian.

Shortly after, the Slovenian would see how Casemiro became the third player to beat him in this championship, after

Jorge Molina

and

Budimir

.

The Brazilian took advantage of a slip by Herrera in the area, to head unopposed a corner kick.

The Mexican midfielder, who had entered the eleven to replace Saúl, quite imprecise in Austria, last Wednesday, returned to be the protagonist in another goal against his team.

If against Lokomotiv, in Moscow, he committed a hand that led to the draw and against Salzburg, in the first leg, he lost a decisive ball, this time it was a braking pass that played a trick on him.

It could have been even worse, because the Aztec hurried to the maximum before the white pressure and

Mateu Lahoz

, as usual, always let him continue.

His home comeback only lasted half a game.

The fact is that in the first act,

Llorente

did not leave Mendy even once, who stopped all the races.

And Joao Félix, although it took him a long time to wake up, when he did, he took a yellow from

Casemiro

, whom he had left on the ground next to the band.

His gasoline lasted just an hour and ended up leaving in a tremendous anger, being replaced by Saúl, who on Wednesday had starred in a similar scene at Red Bull Arena.

The Portuguese took a while to stop throwing things (gloves, jacket, ...) against his seat in the stands.

Without him on the pitch, they lost creativity.

"We all want to play 90 minutes"

Except for rest, before the horizon of an imminent European appointment, Joao had always been present in the difficult moments of Atlético.

That's why he was surprised when he saw the poster with his number 7, while his team still had a chance to hold on to the derby.

And that Luis Suárez, in his first duel against Real Madrid as a rojiblanco, was hardly noticed offensively.

The change also did not take effect and the rojiblancos saw the seven-game winning streak break.

«It is a hard defeat.

In the first half, it was not us, "said Koke, who did not see Joao's anger.

"It's normal, we all want to play the 90 minutes," he summarized.

Simeone never saw anything clear in the derby, where Courtois was hardly worried.

So, the Argentine made use of a stroke from

Lemar

, Lodi and Correa.

Another turn of the rudder with which, apart from Herrera, he dispensed with Carrasco and Felipe, to return to the two centrals.

The first two actions of Lodi, ended in a couple of good troubles for his people.

And Oblak, of course, despaired.

Lemar

, who was already the protagonist in his last two games, scoring against Valladolid and shining at Mestalla, found himself with one of those classic Llorente lashes, the first in the whole game, but he was not able to hole it, with all the goal for him.

Paradoxically, the derby ended up dying on Oblak's back, where he ended up caroming the ball after a shot from Carvajal that crashed into the post.

And Saúl had in his head the last halo of hope with which the derby evaporated.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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