Atletico Madrid defeats Real Madrid in La Liga derby

Real Madrid’s 100% start to the season came to an end on Sunday at the Wanda Metropolitan Stadium as Atletico Madrid ran out 3-1 winners on Sunday in the Madrid derby.

Real Madrid won all their first five games in La Liga this season, and even though they had to come from behind in some of them, including late winners and equalizers, Sunday’s result never went their way from the start.

The Los Blancos were without one of their key players, Vinicius Junior, who, before Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Union Berlin in the UEFA Champions League, was said to be on track to return to action in the Madrid derby.

However, 24 hours before the fixture, Real Madrid confirmed that Vinicius junior would play no part in the game, forcing Carlo Ancelotti to go with a starting lineup that had Kepa, Lucas Vázquez, Rüdiger, Alaba, Fran García, Kroos, Camavinga, Modric, Fede Valverde; Bellingham, and Rodrygo.

Diego Simeone also went for Oblak, Molina, Savic, Hermoso, Giménez, Samuel Lino, Marcos Llorente, Koke, Saúl, Morata, and Griezmann as his starting eleven.

Atletico Madrid broke The deadlock five minutes into the game and took the lead through Alvaro Morata, who headed in from a teasing cross from the left after four minutes.

Fourteen minutes later, Antoine Greizmann doubled the hosts’ advantage in a similar fashion, heading in a cross to make it 2-0, although Toni Kroos pulled one back after 35 minutes as Atletico Madrid led at half time. 

One minute after the restart, Morata sealed Atletico Madrid’s win with a goal that extended Diego Simeone’s side’s lead.

The result means that Carlo Ancelotti’s side have been beaten for the first time in all competitions this season, and it puts them on 15 points from six games, dropping down to third on the table. However, they remain five points ahead of Atletico Madrid, have just 10 points from five games played, and sit in fifth on the table.

Barcelona and Girona sit in first and second position on the table with 16 points each from 6 games and are the only unbeaten sides this season in La Liga.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu