Real Madrid’s hopes of retaining the Laliga trophy have been dealt a huge blow following their 1-all draw against Atletico Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
This result means they are now seven points behind league leaders Barcelona, but should the Bluagrana pick maximum points against Almeria tomorrow, the Los Blancos will be ten points adrift of the top of the table.
The first half of this Madrid Derby was pretty quiet as both teams played cautiously even though Carlo Ancelotti’s men posed a bigger threat through missed chances by Marco Asensio and captain Karim Benzema.
Diego Simeone’s side put more effort into cutting off Real Madrid’s supply to their forwards and so were left with little time to launch their own attacks. Halftime ended with neither side seeing the net.
At the restart, both teams realised the importance of this fixture and raised the tempo in search of an opening goal. In the heat of the moment, Atletico Madrid were dealt a blow when forward Angel Correa was sent off for an early shower in the 64th minute for elbowing Antoni Rudiger.
Nonetheless, they picked up themselves and got a goal in the 78th minute through José María Giménez.
Madrid took advantage of the superior numbers on the pitch and 18-year-old Rodriguez Alvaro who came in as a substitute struck in the 85th minute to bring matters to level.
This was the youngster’s first goal for Madrid and it proved to be a vital one.
Real Madrid failed to replicate the sharpness they showed on Wednesday during the Champions League last-16 match against Liverpool at Anfield and settled for a draw.
