Atletico 2-1 Real Madrid: Chaotic derby ends as Simeone's side beats 10-men opponent

Dean Huijsen's red card proved costly for Real Madrid as Atletico Madrid claimed a 2-1 victory in Sunday's headline LaLiga clash.

Match Report

Dean Huijsen's red card proved costly for Real Madrid as Atletico Madrid claimed a 2-1 victory in Sunday's headline LaLiga clash.

The first Derbi Madrileno of the season did not spark into life until after the break at the Metropolitano.

Cristian Romero was booked after a challenge on Jude Bellingham in the only real intense moment of the first half, but after the break, Jose Mourinho's team were by far second best.

Having been caught out by David Hancko's searching pass, Huijsen dragged back Giuliano Simeone, who tumbled inside the area.

The referee pointed straight to the spot and booked Huijsen but, after consulting the pitch-side monitor, the official upgraded the yellow card to a straight red for a last-man professional foul.

Alejandro Grimaldo made no mistake with the resulting penalty in the 53rd minute, and Atletico were 2-0 up six minutes later. 

Giuliano Simeone crossed in for Jonathan David to finish and become the first Atletico player to score in his first three LaLiga appearances for the club in the 21st century.

Much to Diego Simeone's frustration, boos rang out from the home fans when Julian Alvarez replaced David soon after, but the Argentine might have turned those jeers into cheers if not for Ibrahima Konate.

Alvarez saw an effort cleared off the line superbly by the defender, after Thibaut Courtois had made a magnificent save to deny Romero.

Yan Diomande would have made that reprieve count when he pounced on a defensive mix-up to take a strike at goal, but Jan Oblak made a fine save.

Antonio Rudiger headed home from Bernardo Silva's free-kick in the 89th minute to drag Madrid back into it, but Atletico survived a nervy finale.

Simeone finally gets the better of Mourinho

During Mourinho's first spell in charge of Madrid, he won all three of his derby clashes against Diego Simeone's Atletico.

Indeed, Atletico's coach only had a worse, 100% loss record in LaLiga against former Barcelona boss Xavi (five games, five defeats) than he did against Mourinho before this contest.

But Mourinho's hoodoo over the Argentine has now ended, and Diego Simeone, as he always does, kicked every ball and felt every tackle, and it was no surprise to see him charge down the tunnel in celebration at full-time.

Atletico ultimately had to grind it out, even against 10 men, albeit they wasted some chances to put the game to bed, even after Madrid had scored, with Alvarez choosing to shoot when he had team-mates better placed either side of him.

It was not a classic, as evidenced by a first half that featured just one attempt on target. In fact, it is the first time Atletico have failed to register a single shot on target in the first half of a home derby against Madrid in LaLiga.

There was also the highest number of fouls committed by Atletico (10) in a first half against Los Blancos in the competition since April 2018 (11 on that occasion).

But Atletico, who registered chances worth only 0.19 expected goals before the break, flipped the script after the restart, finishing with 2.38 xG, 1.24 of which was from open-play opportunities.

Madrid, on the other hand, were limited to just 0.32 xG, which is their lowest total in a LaLiga game since February 2015 (0.2, also v Atletico).

Kylian Mbappe is just one goal or assist away from 500 goal involvements in club football, but he cut a frustrated figure up front, having just one off-target shot, while Vinicius Junior lost four of his seven duels prior to being replaced by Diomande, as Mourinho's star players failed to deliver.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

38' Yellow Card! Cristian Romero booked

52' Red Card! Dean Huijsen sent off

53' Penalty Goal! Atletico 1-0 Real Madrid (Alejandro Grimaldo)

59' Simeone crosses, Jonathan David scores from close range! Atletico 2-0 Real Madrid

62' Álvarez is brought on.

89' Rüdiger heads home, Real Madrid pull one back! Atletico 2-1 Real Madrid (Antonio Rüdiger)

Line-ups

Atletico XI: Oblak, Grimaldo, Llorente, Dávid Hancko, Cristian Romero, Álex Baena, Kang-in Lee, Jonathan David, Johnny Cardoso, Marc Pubill, Giuliano Simeone

Subs: Koke, Musso, Le Normand, Lookman, Morten Hjulmand, Alvarez, Arnau Ortiz, Rodrigo Mendoza, Obed Vargas, Dani Martinez, Jorge Castillo, Jorge Domínguez

Real Madrid XI: Courtois, Dumfries, Cucurella, Mbappe, Valverde, Konate, Tchouameni, Vinicius, Bellingham, Güler, Dean Huijsen

Subs: Rudiger, Bernardo Silva, Alexander-Arnold, Brahim, Lunin, Camavinga, Álvaro Carreras, Raúl Asencio, Endrick, Carlos Espí, Thiago Pitarch, Yan Diomande