Madrid: Real Madrid was left frustrated by Diego Simeone’s men as they finished with the score level at the Santiago Bernabeu. With determination to get closer to league leaders Barcelona, Real Madrid took to the pitch to reduce the gap between the two teams to five points. However, things didn’t turn out as he initially thought they would. Two set pieces were enough to decide the fate of this Madrid derby.
Atletico had 10 players when the clock reached 64 minutes. 27-year-old Argentine striker Angel Correa was shown a straight red card after elbowing out Antonio Rudiger. Correa pushed his hand on Rudiger’s chest as the former Chelsea man fell straight to the ground in pain.
On any other day, Real Madrid would have easily put two or three goals past Atletico’s or any other team’s defense. However, in this case, Atletico held their ground and breached the host’s defense in the 78th minute of the game. The French wizard Antoine Griezmann produced a delightful cross from a set piece and Jose Maria Jimenez rose high to head the ball into the back of the net.
With time running out, Los Blancos shifted gears to find an equalizer. In the 85th minute, Carlo Ancelotti’s gamble paid off as 18-year-old Álvaro Rodríguez leveled the game after Croatian maestro Luka Modric’s cross. Real Madrid is now seven points behind Xavi’s Barcelona with one game to spare. Barcelona would like to extend the gap to 10 points as they face Almeria who are struggling in the relegation zone. If Almería manages to pull off the upset, they will be out of the relegation zone and Valencia will take their place in the bottom zone.
With Barcelona potentially running away with an unassailable lead, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti still believes that “It’s more complicated but it’s not goodbye, we have to fight until the end and see what happens,” the manager said in a postmatch press conference.
The La Liga title race will heat up in the upcoming weeks.
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