8 February 2025
La Liga
Score 1. – 1
Stadium – Santiago Bernabeu
First Half Game Analysis
This match was very important for Real Madrid as they had lost points in an earlier match. Particularly, Real was just a point ahead only, and if Real lost, then Atletico would become the leader in La Liga. Also, if Real could beat Atletico, it would be a bit of a comfortable position for Real to maintain the leadership in La Liga. Atletico had won 5 of the games out of 6 with Real Madrid in recent matches.
In defense we found Lucas, Tchouameni, Asencio, and Fran Garcia. In the attack, Rodrygo, Vini, and Mbappe could be seen.
There was a short farewell moment for the great left back, Marcelo, before the game by the team, Real Madrid, and by the fans at Bernabeu. It was a great moment for all the fans too, as Marcelo, a legend of Real Madrid, will be gone forever from the scene of the football world.
Farewell to Marcelo, a Real Madrid Legend
In the 5th minute, Vasquez poorly handled the ball and let the ball be snatched away by an Atletico player, and it was a bit of a dangerous situation; luckily, the ball rolled out for an out ball.
Up to the 15th minute of the game, it was a sort of even game. Real was pressing a bit more into the Atletico ground. The possession was 58% by Real Madrid and 42% by Atletico. There was only one shot toward the post by Atletico in the 14th minute from outside the box, and the ball slid away from the left post for an out ball with no harm to Courtois. Also, Atletico was defending strongly with the wall of many players so the players like Vini and Mbappe could not make any movement.
The first goal shot for Real was in the 18th minute by Rodrygo from the left side out of the box, but the ball flew quite high up above the bar and caused no danger to Atletico at all.
Vini took his left-foot ground shot at the post from outside the box in the 20th minute, but this too rolled away from the right post for an out ball. So far in the game, there had been very rare goal shots as the team was fighting mainly in the mid-ground. The reason was that Atletico had a very strong wall of defending players, and Real strikers were not given any chance to take such shots at the post with more frequency. Similarly, on the other side, Real defenders too were doing a good job as Asencia and Garcia were very agile and strong defenders.
In the 21st minute, there occurred a good chance for Mbappe as he got the ball from Ceballos inside the box, but he was well surrounded by 3 defenders, and he slipped in the attempt, and so a good chance was slipped away. Real got their first corner a few seconds later, but the ball was well headed away by a defender.
Rodrygo and Vasquez created a ball for Ceballos in the 28th minute, but the shot of Ceballos was away from the right pole, missing the target by miles. Again seconds later, the ball was dropped inside the box of Atletico, where Mbappe and Vini both struggled for the ball to gain control, but the defenders of Atletico were very agile and alert for such situations, and they successfully drove the ball away from these dangerous strikers.
In the 31st minute, a cross ball was thrown from the left winger toward the box by an Atletico player, and in the process, Tchouameni happened to step over the foot of a striker slightly, and that player, Lino, showed the signs of somehow being hurt. With the VAR and referee’s monitor checking, this tackle was declared a foul, and the penalty was awarded to Atletico Madrid, and they scored an easy goal. The ball was lobbed straight into the center of the post, but Courtois dived to his left on the ground.
Tchouameni penalty give away
This was a fatal second giveaway penalty by the team. Though the tackle did not look that bad and intentional, a defender stepping over the foot of a striker is considered most of the time a straight penalty by the referee, and so this happened.
Atletico Madrid created two good chances within two minutes; once in the 40th minute, a striker got the ball inside the box, and before he could shoot the ball, he was surrounded by a group of defenders, and his chance was foiled. Secondly, in the 42nd minute, on a counterattack, the striker had the ball inside the box too, but as he was covered by a defender, he could not do much, and his pass was easily recovered by other Real defenders, and the dangerous situation was avoided.
So far both teams had 5 shots each on the post of the opposition team. Only Atletico’s one shot was on target.
After scoring that penalty goal, Atletico had woken up and started charging forward more times and creating more threats to the keeper of Real.
4 minutes of extra time were added in this first half game.
In the last minute of the extra time, Rodrygo was fouled in the Atletico half a few meters from the box line. It was one last chance to level up for Real before the halftime. The shot was taken by Valverde, and it was a powerful shot, but it was well blocked by the wall, and thus, it could not produce any magic.
Second Half Game Analysis (Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid)
In the second half, in a few minutes of the game, we could see that Atletico had made up their mind to come attacking, and so they were moving forward. They were fast and attacking rapidly.
In the 50th minute of the game, Real led an attack from the right side; the ball was thrown into the box by Rodrygo toward Bellingham. Bellingham took the shot, but his ball got blocked by a defender; the rebounded ball was received by Mbappe, who was also inside the box. It was he who took the second shot at the post that turned into the goal of Real Madrid, and the score leveled again. Even if there were so many Atletico players defending, about 6 or 7 of them around, somehow Mbappe managed to get through finally and scored for the team.
Mbappe scored a goal
In the 52nd minute, a dangerous attack was led by Real inside the Atletico box. Garcia passed the ball to Vini on the left, and Vini got inside the box along the line and threw a cross ball that was well received by Bellingham with his heading. Unfortunately, the ball hit the crossbar and deflected, and the ball landed at the feet of Vasquez, who also took the shot but was blocked by a defending player. It was a superb move by Vini, and they almost got their second goal.
There was a massive pressing by Real inside the Atletico box in the 57th minute, and they almost scored a goal. Ceballos took the ball from the left to inside the box and threw a cross, and it was again Bellingham who headed the ball; again, unfortunately, the ball landed right into the hands of the keeper, and thus the massive attempt was ended.
These moments, Bellingham looked like a very dangerous player with his dangerous attempts again and again. Just Bellingham had been unlucky, let us say, as his attempts kept failing.
By the 60th minute, possession was 60% to 40% in favor of Real Madrid. Also, Real was attacking and creating more chances for goals. But the real solid defensive wall of Atletico made Real players really hard to crack through.
In the 62nd minute, Vasquez threw a good cross ball from the right; Mbappe could not reach the ball, and instead a defender headed it away, and the chance was squandered away.
In the 65th minute, there was a dangerous attack on the right side inside the box, but it was due to a great work by Asencio that he was able to stop the attack, and the ball was cleared away by Garcia. Asencio had been a great defender all evening in this game.
Again in the 66th minute, Vini led a good attack, and he passed the ball to Bellingham from the right to the center. Bellingham took a rapid shot, but the shot was blocked by a defender. And seconds later the ball was thrown from the right to the center by Vasquez for Vini and Bellingham, but neither could head the ball. Anyway, Vini was declared offside at that instant. The good thing was that they kept creating chances that were good for the team.
Vasquez had a good chance from the right side of the post to shoot into the box; the keeper, Oblak, well blocked the ball and sent it out for a ball. Real got a corner kick. The corner ball was a good one, and Tchouameni headed the ball with a drop ball, and that too was easy for the keeper to catch, and there was no danger to Atletico.
So far in the game, Real had 4 corner balls to the just 1 corner ball to Atletico. Similarly, Real had a total of 5 shots on target, while Atletico had 2.
In the 70th minute, Mbappe got the ball on the right flank, and he rushed about the box line into the center, followed by 4 defenders, and he took his left-foot shot into the box; the ground ball was weaker, and the keeper had no problem getting hold of the ball. Mbappe had another option that he could pass the ball to Vini, who was in support on the left, and he was open, while Mbappe was surrounded by 4 defenders. Mbappe, though, asked for forgiveness. Again, the right decision makes the difference in the games. It was a good chance for Real to double up the score, and as they had been working so hard and pressing all these times.
In the 71st minute, Rodrygo took a good shot from the right side of the box in close range, but his shot too was well blocked by the keeper, Oblak. The angle was tight for Rodrygo, but it was a good attempt.
Again a minute later, there was a superb attack led by Vini. He entered the box with the ball on his left side and close to the outline and was able to take the goal shot even in that narrow angle chased by two defenders. This time too, the keeper could tip the ball away and deny Real their 2nd goal of the evening again and again. I think so far in the games, Atletico never had so many dangerous attacks into their post by any teams, as they are known for a very strong defense team in La Liga.
In the 74th minute, there was a foul committed on Mbappe on the left side near the sideline of the Atletico ground. The free kick was given, and it was taken by Rodrygo. The shot was so good it directly landed in front of the keeper, Oblak; he almost lost the ball, but he grabbed the ball in his second attempt. Nearby, Vasquez almost got that deflected ball from the keeper. Lately, the goalkeeper, Oblak, has single-handedly saved the goalpost of Atletico, as he was able to deny several chances of scoring goals to Real Madrid.
A minute later, Atletico too led a dangerous attack; Griezman took a shot, but he was blocked by Tchouameni, so his shot could not be directed toward the post, and the ball went out.
In the 80th minute, Modric and Camavinga substituted Ceballos and Vasquez.
Another very good attempt by Real in the 82nd minute: Vini ran on the left flank and threw the ball toward Rodrygo, who was on the right and out of the box; he shot the ball targeting the far post, but his ball missed the target. It was again a very good attempt by the team Real and one of those series of attempts against Atletico.
Up to the 86th minute, Real Madrid had a total of 27 attacks toward the Atletico goal post, and that was a massive attempt by Real forwards. In this game, Real could not score and win the game, but their game was superior to Atletico’s and had far more attempts than Atletico.
Rodrygo was substituted by Brahim in the 88th minute.
In the 89th minute, Valverde passed a good ball for Mbappe inside the box on the left. Mbappe dashed with the ball, but the timely dive by the keeper saved Atletico from Mbappe scoring the goal. This was a classic chance for Mbappe, but he could not convert it to a goal. Mbappe needs to get such balls in the area so that he can show his magic skill, and the team players must understand this.
The extra time of 3 minutes was added. Atletico had one serious attack inside the box, but Courtois came out in time to block the shot and avoided a goal. But later it was seen that the attacking player was already offside, so it would not have been counted anyway.
The game ended in a draw with 1 goal by each team.
Real Madrid Team Performance
In my view, the team played superbly well this time against Atletico Madrid. They were able to lead so many charges into the box of Atletico; they just were unlucky they could not score more goals with their attempts. In comparison, Atletico could not lead as many attacks as they wished, as Real controlled the game much to their favor.
In the defense too, the players were able to stop and snatch the balls away from the Atletico forwards frequently and covered the ground very well, and Courtois did not have to do much work, unlike his counterpart, Oblak, the Atletico keeper.
Players Performance
Mbappe did show at times his talent well and worked hard throughout the game. He created a few good chances, and he was the one who could score that solitary goal for the team. The kind of balls that he needed to be thrown at, if the team can do that, Mbappe can produce superb results in the games that can be seen by his plays for the team.
Vini was very active in the 2nd half of the game, and he too created some good chances for the team and himself. He was less complaining during the match; that is what he should be doing in his games. There needs to be better understanding between Vini and Mbappe; if so, these guys should be able to give good results to the team.
Rodrygo played superbly in the 1st half and also to some extent in the 2nd half too. He was the player who gave the pass ball that turned into the only goal for Real.
Bellingham was working as usual and building up the attack in Atletico’s half, and he was the most creative player on the field. He was also the most active player on the ground and the most responsible one too.
Asencio was superb in the defense, and he did not let any player pass by him in the entire match, so effective was his game. With more games, he will gain more experience and will be able to gain the status of one of the pillar players of the team; I am sure of him.
Conclusion
Real Madrid could not win the game against their city rival Atletico, but they could play the game with much control in their advantage and create more chances than their opposition team in this match. With so many charges in the goal post, they were denied their much-needed 2nd goal, which was, to some extent, due to their bad luck, I would say, because the team worked hard and did their work, whatever was possible by the team. It was a great work of the team that they could penetrate and create so many chances against such a team that is considered very solid in defense.
Also at the same time, Atletico could not lead as many attacks as they usually do into the post of Real as the defense of Real was also well organized this time. If Real keeps on playing with this sort of game in the future too, they will be able to defeat any team in the upcoming games with them. The penalty logic, to me, looked very weak, as the ball was already far away from the player and did not interfere with the ball. I hope the expert knows better in this matter and takes the right decision.
Statistics
Real Madrid Atletico Madrid
Score 1 1
Ball Possession. 60% 40%
Total shots 23 10
Shots on target 9 1
Corners 6 1
Fouls. 14 12
Total passes 655 445
Yellow cards 1 3