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Pride, points and everything else was at stake tonight at the Wanda Metropolitano as Real Madrid traveled to face Atletico Madrid for a league tie between the inter-city rivals. Santiago Solari's men have won 5 of their last 6 games, drawing their last match, the Clasico at the Camp Nou. Atletico had come into the tie on the back of a loss against Real Betis, and Simeone's men aren't having the best of seasons, finding themselves fortunate to have been in the second position as every side around has been faltering as well.
Atletico has scored only 32 league goals in 22 league games, 3 less than 17th placed Celta Vigo. Although Atletico have never been known for their scoring prowess, they have been leakier in defence, having conceded 14 goals, leading to 8 draws and 2 defeats before tonight's game began.
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Real Madrid started off the game a little wobbly, as Atletico looked quite impressive, despite not creating too many clear cut chances. Real won a corner in the 16th minute, and Sergio Ramos flicked the ball on to Casemiro, who had tons of space and time to execute a perfect scissor kick from 6 yards straight into Oblak's goal.
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The goal marked the fastest ever away goal to be scored at the Wanda Metropolitano, again highlighting how truly wonderful Atletico's defence is. Real almost grabbed a second a minute later as Vinicius weaved his way past Arias before crossing the ball to Vasquez, who shot his volley into the skies, much to the teenager's frustration.
Angel Correa won the ball back from Vinicius in what VAR adjudged to be a fair play, and he slid the ball through Real's defence in the path of Griezmann, and the World Cup winner made no mistake in nutmegging the ball past Courtois to equalize for the home side.
Both sides had a couple of chances after that before Vinicius was brought down by Giminez and a controversial penalty was given. VAR held the decision up and Sergio Ramos fired Madrid into a first-half lead that they would not let slip.
Alvaro Morata had a superb goal rightly ruled out for offside minutes before Gareth Bale put the final nail in Atletico's coffin with a sublime finish from a tight angle after Luka Modric found him in acres of space. Here are some talking points from the win.
#1 Atletico need to get back in their groove
The Colchoneros have looked a shade off of their usual aggressive self this season, and their high league standing is mostly down to rivals faltering at the same time they are, with Real, Sevilla and Alaves all failing to capitalize every time Atletico had a poor result.
The Red and White army will have a week to recover from their thrashing before their games against Rayo Vallecano and Juventus. Unless they get their house in order quick, they seem to have quite a great chance of being knocked out by a Cristiano Ronaldo led Juventus, who seem determined to winning Europe's top crown.
#2 Solari stamping his authority
Santiago Solari was thrown straight into the deep end by Real Madrid's hierarchy as he replaced Julen Lopetegui following a Clasico thrashing at the Nou Camp in October. Since coming in, Solari has made several big changes at the club, most importantly, involving Vinicius Jr. more and more in the first team squad.
His predecessor gave the Brazilian teenager next to no opportunities in the first team, and that proved to be his downfall as his side looked devoid of the creative genius that the Brazilian has since gone on to provide for the club under Solari. The Argentine coach has also given significant minutes to younger players such as Marcos Llorente, Ceballos, Regulion, and Odriozola, whilst he also made Thibaut Courtois the outright starting goalkeeper for Real Madrid.
Superstars such as Isco, Marcelo, and Bale have lost their place in the starting XI, with Isco, in particular, being almost completely frozen out by Solari who does not seem to have too much trust in the enigmatic Spanish fan favourite. By making these tough choices, he's stamping more and more authority on this team and the dressing room, showing everyone involved with the club that he is the man to lead the club forward.
#3 Toni Kroos, not Luka Modric, is Solari's key man in the middle.
Having seen all of Madrid's games this season, there is one thing that is becoming more and more evident as the games go by. Toni Kroos' rising importance in the new system is supreme, as has been more than evident in the past 6-7 games, as Madrid have started to set up in a more aggressive manner when they do not have the ball.
The man who is key to this transition is none other than the German metronome we know as Toni Kroos. The #8 is the first player to start running towards the opposition when the team loses the ball, and his pressing over the last few games has been one of his standout traits.
He is not really known for his ball-winning or defensive capabilities, but the German is working on that area of his game more and more under Solari, as he looks to relieve Modric of some of his defensive strain, given that the Croat Ballon d'Or winner is 33 and not getting younger.
#4 Hats off to Perez's farsightedness
Every person involved with any capacity at the club is extremely excited about Vinicius Jr. All the fans cannot get enough of the young Brazilian, who seems to excite fans like no other player with his vertical play and tireless skill-full running. The boy from Flamengo is having an immense first season at Madrid, showing the World exactly why Fiorentino Perez decided to promise Flamengo 45 million Euros for a 16 year old, 2 years ago.
Perez' biggest regret may be missing out on Neymar when he signed for Barcelona instead, and in order to not be in the same situation again, he has completely changed the club's transfer policy. Instead of buying Galacticos, Madrid now buys potential future superstars for reduced fees, so they do not have to pay princely sums to acquire them when they establish themselves at another club. The plan has paid superb dividends as Ceballos, Llorente, Vinicius, Asensio are part of the club's relatively new policy to buy talent young.
Another Brazilian prodigy Rodrygo Goes will be joining Real Madrid next summer, as Perez moved quickly to swoop in before anyone else could get to the precocious young talent.
#5 Real Madrid finding form in typical fashion
It seems like we've seen this before. Real Madrid falter for the first half of the season, at some point near October and November, the club seems in full-blown crisis mode, and then the results start picking up around the holidays. The team gains fluidity, the players seem motivated, and the world starts to wonder what's next in store from Real Madrid.
There's just something about the club in the past few years that has been eerily inexplicable. Every time the new year rolls around, it seems like we are seeing a different Real Madrid. Their desire to win seems to be restored, and they look certain to make yet another deep run in Europe's most prestigious competition.
The Blancos have now picked up a convincing victory over a worthy opponent, truly announcing their return from the terrible blip the club faced post the departure of their best player and best coach. Everyone is finding form at the perfect time, and if Madrid could cap off all this superb play with some silverware, this would be a truly memorable campaign for the fans and players alike.
