Two months after 7:3
I wonder which of the coaches - Diego Simeone or Zinedine Zidane - wanted to erase from the memory of his players what happened on July 27 in East Rutherford in the match of the International Champions Cup before the first derby of the season? For some reason, it seems that if you were in the hands of an Argentinean and a Frenchman device from the movie "People in Black", they would hesitate for a long time. Those incredible 7:3 in favor of "Atletico" and 5:0 to the break with poker removed in the end, Diego Costa - this is an incredible motivation for all. For mattress players, it's their belief in their own strength and capabilities. For Real Madrid, it's the desire to take revenge. Talking about the fact that two months ago there was just a friendly match is untenable.
In the case of the derby, this notion is inapplicable, and we can recall what kind of reaction in Spain was caused by the humiliation of the Royal Club. "Real", by the way, from the beginning of the season was criticized almost more than other top clubs, but it was he who headed the table after six rounds. It is clear that from this club and the champion Fabio Capello for lack of spectacularity fired. However, despite the most incredible rumors about José Mourinho and the loss of faith in the coach by the leading players, it was difficult to make serious claims to Zidane.
He himself ironically answered the question about what Atletico considered a working class. "I can only say that there are a lot of people working at Real Madrid, too, and it's still the same here," said Ziza on the eve of the derby. It was as if he was preparing the public for the fact that his star team would come out to Wanda Metropolitano with a willingness to plow the lawn with quite proletarian zeal.
Without moments, but with a prize for Forlan
The team wearing red and white T-shirts tried to create as hosts. They tried because, despite the territorial advantage in the course of the starting segment, the opponent did not offer anything special to Atletico. A rare mistake at the exit of the former idol Kurtua, who was booed by the fans, was rather an exception and had no serious consequences. When necessary, Thibaud brilliantly interrupted the dangerous shooting of Tripper in the gate area.
Plus, once broke away from the defenders of João Felix, but he had to hit from a fairly sharp angle, and the ball flew almost parallel to the gate. And convinced of the fortress of their own rear, Real Madrid began to take control of the game and conduct lengthy positional attacks. However, the effect of possession of the ball and more hits turned out the same as the opponent. Zero. The only thing I remembered was Kroos's long-range shot when Cloud averted the threat by throwing it into the bottom corner. But it was not a fact that the ball flew exactly into the court, so a bright event for the break was to call the ceremony with the participation of legendary "Atletico" Diego Forlan.
The miracle of Oblak
The game before the goal is about such matches, even though we couldn't wait to take the gate. Without goals to praise was not the stars, like only occasionally out of the shadows and not yet found themselves in the "Real Madrid" Azar, and hardworking people like Kazemir, Nacho or flawlessly held his 100 th match in the league of Partei. With this tactical tug-of-war, creative episodes could be easily counted on the fingers of one hand, and each deserved special attention.
Diego Costa, for example, proved to be a great assistant, but his soft throw to the center of the penalty area did not bring success due to lack of ability to play head. Real Madrid had two chances for their club mates, however, when Nacho suddenly gave it to them. It's hard to understand why Bale didn't even make it to the court after his cool pass by throwing the ball on the stands. Unlike Benzema, nobody interfered with Valliytsa, but Karim managed to make a good head start. "Atletico was saved by a phenomenal response from Oblak, and it was the third time that the Slovenian's Save had been there. Curtois never turned on Superman mode. The defenders worked in it, and in particular the ideal Varan, who once covered the blow to Coke from the gate square. The first - warm-up for the goalkeeper - the hosts hit the court on 90 minutes!
By that time, Simeone had already withdrawn Felix from the game, releasing an additional midfielder. Llorente, a former Real Madrid player, had to eliminate the risk after Zidane threw Hames Rodriguez into battle with Modric, who had recovered from his injury. It was impossible to win in this tactical confrontation: the teams played exactly 0-0. And this score is in favor of Real Madrid, which did not miss in the third round in a row. This was the first time in the Zidane era. And not to let the 269 minutes, which was the record-breaking 269 minutes for the league in the last decade, hit the gate is something new in the performance of the "creamy" teams.