For the second time this season, Atletico de
Madrid has beaten their arch rival Real Madrid in the La Liga derby. "The
colchoneros" or "the Indios" as they are known beat Real Madrid "The Vikings" in their home ground Santiago
Bernebeu by 2 goals to 1. The first goal came in the 10th minute of
the game when Koke´s corner kick found the head of Portuguese midfielder Thiago
who leapt past Christiano Ronaldo and Benzema to score the curtain raiser in
the six yard box after a very bad collective defensive play by Real Madrid who
seem to have a very great difficulty lately, defending dead ball situations in
their area. After the goal, a considerable section of the Real Madrid fans
present at the match began to boo Iker Cassillas anytime he came in contact
with the ball, even though the fault of the goal was not his, another section
would immediately react, by applauding him and chanting his praise to counter
the unease that was generating.
Cristiano Ronaldo who had been blamed by Sergio
Ramos for his role in Thiago´s goal and who had not taken the blame in good
faith would invent a penalty kick after an incursion into the atletico Madrid vital
area and feeling a slight charge from Sequeira he fell down and the referee awarded him a penalty kick. Cristiano Ronaldo would convert
the penalty kick himself to give Real Madrid an equalizer in the 26th
minute of play.
But in the second half of the game with the
introduction on the field of play of Turkish schemer, Arda Turan and French wonderboy,
Antoine Grizman, Atletico de Madrid took absolute control of the game, and it
would only be a question of time before the winning goal would come in the 76th
minute after a beautiful collective play that had Juanfran crossing out a low
pass which Raul Garcia let past between his legs to place Arda Turan on course
for a clear chance which the Turkish player shot with his right foot into the
far corner of the net where Iker Casillas could not reach in spite of his long
dive.
It would be recalled that Atletico de Madrid
also beat Real Madrid by a loan goal to clinch the very first competition of
the season, the Spanish Super cup, although many Real Madrid fans had argued then
that Atletico de Madrid approached that final match with many violent play
which the referee unfortunately did not sanction, but with what happened
yesterday evening at the Santiago Bernebeu stadium, those who had accused Atletico
de Madrid of never wanting to play good football each time they met Real Madrid
had to swallow their words as the Colchoneros played a very high class and
skillful football that mesmerized their opponents.
The question this season is, how far can Real
Madrid go in their quest for winning the many trophies in play without the
presence in the team of Angel Di Maria and Xavi Alonso, two very key players in the
team who had to leave the team to sign for Manchester United and Bayern Munich respectively
this season under a controversial situation that is still bleeding in the
Spanish football panorama? We have from now until the end of May next year to determine
the answer to this question.
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