Real Madrid 1 – 1 Atlético Madrid: Three Takeaways from the Madrid Derby

Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid fought to a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabéu. Alex McVey gives you three key takeaways from the Madrid Derby.

The Madrid Derby Lived up to the Hype

Real Madrid fans once had the hubris to taunt Atletico Madrid fans with a banner reading: “Wanted: a worthy rival for a decent derby.”

Certainly these fans have to regret having tempted the fates.

As an excellent article from Tim Collins details, Atletico have become something of a bogey team for Real Madrid in recent years, with Madrid struggling to defeat their cross-town rivals in nearly every competition… except the Champions League, wherein Real Madrid have won two finals against Atletico.

This fall, Zidane was able to do what Ancelotti struggled to do during his tenure at Madrid, and defeated Simeone’s Atletico Madrid 3-0 at the Calderon.

This back-and-forth between the two sides from Madrid, along with the close La Liga title race, made this Madrid Derby a much hyped event.

It’s fair to say this match lived up to the hype. From a neutral perspective, this was a great match to watch.

There was lots of scintillating attacking play, with both sides putting up a total of 30 shots in the game (according to WhoScored). Real was unlucky not to have been up by more early-on, but an outstanding overall performance by Jan Oblak and Savic’s last ditch effort to clear Ronaldo’s shot out of the empty net it off the line kept Real off the scoresheet.

A Pepe header in what might be his last Madrid derby and a late Antoine Griezmann break-through saw the Madrid rivals level at the end of a well-fought match.

The match was tough and physical, as Madrid Derbies often are, but avoided descending into the dirty tricks and melodramatic theatrics that often are present when Los Blancos face off against Los Colchoneros.

While Real fans may feel hard done, having seen some impressive play throughout much of the match, both sides will probably feel as if a point is an acceptable result.

Keylor Navas’ Redemption?

Keylor Navas has been having a rough season this year. Against Atletico, however, we started to see glimpses of the old, world-class Navas.  Navas bailed Real Madrid out a number of times, and was perhaps a bit unlucky to not add to his scarce clean sheet tally.

If, as Marca writes, the Madrid Derby gave Navas a shot at redemption, he was definitely looking to take it. Navas turned in his best performance in a Madrid shirt for a long time. His one-on-one stop with Fernando Torres was Casillas-esque.

He also bailed out Madrid when Ramos clumsily passed the ball back to Griezmann.  He can hardly be blamed for Griezmann’s ultimate equalizer, which prevented him from keeping a clean sheet in an otherwise tidy match.

Let’s hope this match provides Navas with some much needed confidence ahead of Madrid’s big tests against Bayern and Barca.

The Best and the Worst of Real Madrid

This match put the best and the worst of Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid on display. Madrid looked strong going forward, with Ronaldo and Benzema linking up well and some excellent midfield play by Kroos and Modrić in particular.

Ronaldo was incredibly unlucky to not have buried the shot that Savic headed off the line heroically.

Yet this team is nevertheless plagued by defensive lapses. Sergio Ramos nearly played Griezmann in for a goal. Casemiro continues to show problems under intense pressure, giving the ball away sloppily in dangerous areas.

Griezmann ended up equalizing by cutting Madrid’s back-line apart, based in part on a lapse by Nacho.

Real Madrid has managed to pull down some impressive results this season, but its rare that the team remains focused and intense for a full 90 minutes. That ambivalent tendency was on full display in the Madrid derby.

Madrid needs to work on their ability to stay focused and see out big games if they want to get through this tough April schedule.