Another red card in the Madrid Derby settles the contest in a draw
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Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid squared off for the third time this season in another installment of the Madrid derby. This was the return league fixture after the first matchup resulted in a 2-1 win for the visiting Real Madrid back in September. Most recently, these two faced off in the Copa Del Rey, where Real Madrid again got the better of their city rivals.
This game had plenty of drama during the game, but the rumblings began when the news broke of who would referee this game. Jesus Gil Manzano was the chosen official, which gave Atletico Madrid fans a tell of how this game could go.
Before this weekend’s game, Gil Manzano had officiated the most Real Madrid games this season, 11 more times than the official in second place. He has also been at the center of other games that Atletico Madrid felt he called against their favor. Dishing out a red card to Fernando Torres back in 2015, another to Diego Costa for misinterpreting what he said, and giving one out to Stefan Savic the last time these two clubs met in the Copa Del Rey
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Real Madrid came into this game trailing league-leading Barcelona by eight points. Now in the second half of the season, this was as close as you could get to a must-win game for Los Blancos. For Atletico Madrid, the match was a part of their fight to stay in the top four. They still sit in fourth place but have Real Betis only two points behind them for that last Champions League spot.
The match was pretty even through the first 20 minutes, with both teams firing off shots on goal, testing both Jan Oblak and Thibaut Courtois early on. Unfortunately for Atletico Madrid, they lost their starting left-back Reinildo in the first half to a torn ACL, forcing Diego Simeone to make an early substitute, bring on Jose Maria Gimenez, and move Mario Hermoso to that left-back spot.
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Moving to the 60th minute, Atletico Madrid had one of their best chances to take the lead through Antoine Griezmann, but his shot just barely went wide of a sprawling Courtois. The actual issue kicked off in the 64th minute when substitute Angel Correa seemed to throw an elbow at Rudiger’s chest, causing him to fall in pain.
Gil Manzano had no doubts about it and gave Correa a straight red card. It appeared to be too harsh as both players were grabbing at each other, and Correa almost seemed to just try to push Rudiger away. Regardless, it left Atletico Madrid undermanned once again against Real Madrid.
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Then with less than 15 minutes to go in the game, Griezmann whipped in a free kick from 35 yards out to find the head of Jose Maria Gimenez, who sent his header off the post and past Courtois. After a huge win against Liverpool, it seemed like Real Madrid was certainly losing their grip on the league with a loss. However, Atletico’s lead didn’t last long because Alvaro Rodriguez scored his first official goal for Real Madrid seven minutes later off a ball sent in from the left corner.
Alvaro ran free through the box and leaped over everyone else to send his header past a frozen Oblak. The 18-year-old delivers a lifeline to a Madrid team that didn’t see the best performances on the day from their usual stars in Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr.
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No other shots came close, forcing both teams to settle for a draw on the day. Afterward, Diego Simeone had some strong words for the officiating in these games and how he sees it going.
Atletico won’t play their next game until next weekend when they host Sevilla, who are having a poor season for their standards. Whereas Real Madrid will stay home and host F.C Barcelona in the first leg of the Copa Del Rey semi-final, then have to travel to Seville to face fifth-placed Real Betis, who are riding a three-game winning streak.
