Real Madrid 3-2 Atletico Madrid: Vinicius 52 pen, 72, Valverde 55; Lookman 33, Molina 66
This was always going to be tricky for Real Madrid. The 5-2 loss to their local rivals in the Madrid derby in September was grating, its effect destabilising. Here, with Barcelona having gone seven points ahead at the top with a hard-fought victory over Rayo Vallecano, it was all the more important to seek this victory. Beyond revenge or local bragging rights, anything more than a four-point gap would have seemed insurmountable with only nine games left to play.
Good, then, for Madrid that they withstood a late push for an equaliser to defeat Atletico 3-2 at the Bernabeu on Sunday night. Vinicius Junior scored twice on either side of Federico Valverde’s 55th minute effort, while Atletico will kick themselves not just for letting their initial lead through Ademola Lookman slip away, but also for failing to keep Vinicius from dragging Madrid back in front after Nahuel Molina’s impressive 66th minute equaliser.
The opener from the visitors arrived just after the half hour. Matteo Ruggeri overlapped down the left and was played in by Lookman. He found Giuliano Simeone with his low cross. Cue a cheeky backheel from the latter that teed up Lookman to sweep home from close range.
Madrid had created a number of chances in the early stages to take the lead, but after going into the break behind it was important to make as fast and positive a start as possible. Six minutes in, Brahim Diaz danced towards the byline and was caught by David Hancko’s clumsy challenge, allowing Vinicius to level from the spot.
Three minutes later, Jose Maria Gimenez’s poor back pass allowed the charging Federico Valverde to seize advantage, forcing his way into the box before side-footing past Juan Musso to make it 2-1.
Substitute Molina would not stand for it, and five minutes after the hour he wandered into the right half space and then hit an outrageous shot from 25 yards that slammed into the top left corner. But then Vinicius was afforded too much space to cut in from the left and bury the ball into the bottom right corner beyond Musso.
Madrid walked on thin lines after Valverde’s challenge on Alex Baena led to perhaps a harsh dismissal with 13 minutes to go in normal time. Atletico threw everything forward, Julian Alvarez pinging the post with a 24-yard drive and Alexander Sorloth testing Andriy Lunin, but the home side would celebrate in the end.
