A header from Marcos Llorente At 93 minutes he unleashed the Argentine coach’s celebration madness Diego Pablo Simeonethat with his Atlético de Madrid was once again the black beast of the Real Madrid in the classic and fueled the hopes of getting the title of The leaguethanks to the 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabéu.
The White House was unable to take advantage of Saturday’s draw (0-0) between Girona (2nd) and Real Sociedad (6th). With this result, Real Madrid leads with 58 points, followed by Girona (56), Barcelona (3rd with 50) and Atlético (48).
“It’s a point. The team looked for it until the end. I think it’s a deserved draw. For me it was a strange game. We had goal situations, they scored a goal for us, they were better than us, but we had more situations than them “The second half was long, with few situations for either side. It was not even close to the vibrant games that were the last ones.”declared Cholo.
“Always drawing away from home is not bad”continued Simeone, who insisted: “I think it was a weak game for both teams. It was not a vibrant game. It was more measured, careful, no one wanted to make mistakes. The second half was similar. They had two, we had Griezmann’s and the goal was just disallowed, because Saúl was in front of the goalkeeper, and the goal that gave us the tie is worth us to continue adding in LaLiga”.
His team didn’t start well. Simeone gestured tensely, nervously, sometimes he despaired, sometimes he asked for calm, he moved from one side to the other as if he were still a footballer whose field of play is reduced to the technical area, in a failed staging, which he rescued at the end. Llorente and that left his team with its tenth straight derby without winning on the territory of the ‘eternal’ rival. He hasn’t won there since February 27, 2016.
From April 8, 2017, with a 1-1, until February 4, 2024, with another 1-1. They have lost in five of those last ten visits. He tied in five others. In five he did not score a goal. His worst streak without winning on Madrid soil is fourteen games, between 1973 and 1983. From 2003 to 2013 he went through twelve. From 1957 to 1964, another eleven.
Atlético did not recognize itself, especially in the first half (perhaps beyond), surpassed, misplaced, unknown, with the goal against that was revealed by Koke Resurrección’s clearance, perhaps before its last derby, number 40 , if he does not renew his contract that expires on June 30, 2024, but that was the most predictable outcome, even though each rebound favored Real Madrid, finally clinched by Brahim Díaz against Jan Oblak.
Simeone’s bet on Rodrigo Riquelme was unsuccessful. On the stage of the Santiago Bernabéu, in the size and difficulty of a match like this, ‘Roro’, pure excess, suffered on the left lane. Later relocated as a right midfielder, faced with such anxiety from the entire team, not just him, at half-time he stayed in the dugout, like on Wednesday against Rayo.
The hope of a goal in the 48th minute by Stefan Savic, the finisher of Antoine Griezmann’s devilish corner, faded as soon as the referee, Sánchez Martínez, consulted with his assistant on the sideline. Once Atlético had already celebrated 1-1, he informed him of the offside with which Saúl Ñíguez invalidated the action, almost on the edge of the goal line, as a hindrance to Lunin.
Simeone brought on Samuel Lino, Memphis Depay and Pablo Barrios. Later, he made the final bet on Ángel Correa, replacing Koke. The Argentine crossed, Griezmann finished with a backheel, Lunin saved the opportunity. It seemed like the end of LaLiga. Until suddenly it appeared Marcos Llorente.
In the other matches of the day, Betis (8th) tied 1-1 at home against Getafe (10th) with penalty goals from Isco (35th) and Mason Greenwood (8th). In addition, Villarreal (14th) and Cádiz (18th) tied without goals and Celta (16th) surprised with a 3-0 on the Osasuna court (12th).