A goal by Marcos Llorente in extra time prevented Real Madrid from winning the derby against Atlético de Madrid (1-1) and thus took away the option of escaping at the top of the LaLiga EA Sports standings before receiving the next matchday to the second, Girona.
Italian Carlo Ancelotti’s team was practically savoring the victory, forged by a goal from Brahim Díaz in the first half, they had controlled the match almost completely, but the shortcomings were overlooked on the day when Dani Carvajal had to play as a central defender. final were so palpable that Memphis Depay touched a header and the former white youth squad finished off without opposition to frustrate the leader.
The absences of the central defenders Militao, David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger, together with that of Aurelien Tchouameni, Ancelotti’s resource for that area, forced Carvajal to be placed next to Nacho. To make matters worse, just before the match the absence of Brazilian Vinicius, one of the great factors of Real Madrid’s imbalance, was confirmed.
Even so, Brahim, who took the place of ‘Vini’, was the one who unevented the match and signed with his goal the best performance for Real Madrid, although Atlético never lost face in a match again with controversy, with a goal disallowed for the Argentine Diego Pablo Simeone’s team after VAR intervention due to interference by Saúl Ñíguez in the Montenegrin Stefan Savic’s shot and with penalties claimed by the locals that the referee did not grant.
Thus, the fourth derby of the season ended with a draw that left a bad taste in Real Madrid’s mouth, whose advantage over Girona could have been four points, but remains at two before the Catalan team’s visit to the Santiago Bernabéu on Saturday, and the difference with respect to Barcelona drops to eight and over Atlético itself remains at ten.
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