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Score: Atletico Madrid 0 - 0 Real Madrid
A properly entertaining first half, a dull second half that exploded into life as it approached it's twilight, brutal physicality, Diego Simeone telling the ref that Dani Carvajal dived after he was clattered into by Lucas Hernandez in front of him, Sergio Ramos breaking his nose, nonsensical refereeing, niggly fouls, plenty of yelling, and a host of wasted chances - this was a Madrid Derby that touched upon what this fixture has been all about in the recent past, without ever really embracing the full potential this matchup always holds.
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As we delve deeper into the 5 key talking points, the reasons will become apparent
P.S. The Wanda Metropolitana, grand and modern as it is, doesn't hold a candle to the soul and the feel of the Vicente Calderon - this Derby just underlined that.
#5. Neither Madrid side have any idea where they've misplaced their top-gear
This above stat alone shows you that Madrid weren't their usual selves on the night, but there are a number of instances that support the theory that Real Madrid have misplaced their gear-shift somewhere in the bowels of the Bernabeu and simply can't find a way to shift out of neutral.
The defense looked out of sorts and ready-to-be-taken for vast swathes of the first half, with most of Atleti's chances coming via sloppiness from the experienced Madrid XI themselves. The midfield hasn't really gotten going... and the less said about the misfiring duo of Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, the better (though we will break this rule and talk about Ronaldo in the coming slides. Rules are meant to be broken, aren't they?)
On the other hand, Atletico Madrid did nothing of note to capitalise on Madrid's sloppiness and too often the men in charge of creating something - Antoine Griezmann especially - opted to take the safe route out and slow the game down instead of pressing home the advantage.
They are still unbeaten in La Liga, but this has got to be the amongst the most toothless unbeaten run the Spanish League has ever seen.
#4 VAR cannot come too soon to La Liga
In the picture above, Nacho Fernandez can't quite believe he's been yellow-carded. Considering he was pushed into Lucas Hernandez by Gabi, and the ref then penalised him for ramming into Hernandez, you can understand his anguish.
He was, in fact, on because Sergio Ramos had to subbed off at half-time after Sergio Ramos broke his nose. After getting kicked in the face. By Lucas Hernandez. In the Atletico Madrid box.
Those two were just a couple of the many unbelievable decisions that the referee took, most of them unfavourably against Real Madrid (no, seriously... Real Madrid aren't often at the short end of the stick when it comes to refereeing, but there's a first time for everything, neh?) and most of them incomprehensibly daft.
Why let words do the job that gifs can do so much more comprehensively?
If the Derby proved one thing, it is that VAR is an essential in the modern football world (just ask any Roma fan - they saw a goal scored by Lazio in the 75th second of their derby overturned by VAR) where mistakes are scrutinised to the minutest detail and big errors can simply not be tolerated in big games.
La Liga will introduce it in the 2018-19 season, but it really can't come soon enough!
#3 What in the hell happened to Atletico's set-piece expertise?
Back in the good ol' days of Atletico Madrid upsetting the apple-cart and winning La Liga, they did so by sheer dint of collective brilliance - both off the ball and on set-pieces. Conceding freekicks in areas from which Gabi or Koke could swing the ball in was professional suicide, and giving away corners a strict no-no
se days, though, their corners are flat, their set-pieces hardly carry any threat and against Real Madrid they wasted so many of these opportunities that it bordered on the criminal. Despite still having considerable prowess in the air - Diego Godin says hello - El Cholo's men fail to make the most of one of their traditional strengths, and Simeone has his work cut out in trying to rectify this.
It would have been okay if their open-play football made up for it, but they have looked utterly bereft of cutting edge in the business end of the field - much of that due to the lacklustre run of form their star turn is undergoing:
#2. It's easy to write off Cristiano Ronaldo. We shouldn't.
Speaking of star turns and underperforming... Cristiano Ronaldo, eh? What a shame. His domestic goalscoring record has now entered the realms of parody - Of all goalscorers in Europe's top 5 leagues this season, Ronaldo has the worst conversion rate (1.81%) - and there is certainly quite a bit wrong with his game at the moment, but to write him off would be dangerously premature.
His all-round game was excellent today, his movement along the flanks superb, his passing and crossing on point, his freekicks much improved... and it took a brilliant Lucas Hernandez challenge to keep him from winning the game at the death.
A large part of Ronaldo's poor form, though, may be attributed to the usually brilliant Isco - and while this may sound harsh, bear with me while I explain why.
Isco's positional freedom means Real Madrid play a loose 4-1-2-1-2 formation that works well when Isco is on his A-game but suffers if the Spaniard gets more selfish than he ought to - his propensity to hold on to the ball for those few extra seconds and drift into areas where he can't pick out the runs Ronaldo makes is doing the Portuguese no favours whatsoever. Isco's positioning is also dragging Ronaldo all over the place, and that's doing the great man no favours.
I had touched upon this point earlier... and most of what I covered there remains valid even today. In fact, even the return of Benzema doesn't seem to have corrected Isco's new-found selfishness on the ball, and Ronaldo is paying for it.
Address this, and Zidane may find the solution that Ronaldo is desperate for.
#1 Barcelona are the real winners of this derby
An incredible 10 points separate the Madrid clubs from Barcelona at the top of the table. No club in the illustrious history of Spanish football has ever clawed back such a big margin, done so early on, to win the title.
While Atleti may not have considered themselves contenders for the title this year, that is certainly not the case for their neighbours... and to see Barcelona, a supposedly on-the-decline, destroyed-in-the-summer-transfer-window Barcelona do so very well and pull so far ahead will hit them where it really hurts.
The one point that both Madrid clubs share have merely strengthened Barca's hand... and they are the only ones who won after the first goalless derby in a dozen years.
P.S. To end the rather despondent sounding Talking Points on a positive note, here are the biggest, well, positives for Atleti and Real from the match
- Casemiro has remembered why he's in the squad, eschewed the sense of adventure that seemed to possess him regularly early on this season, and become the solid-as-hell defensive midfielder that Real Madrid have been crying out for.
- While Atleti have not been looking all that great defensively this season... Diego Godin, Stefan Savic, Juanfran and most of all Lucas Hernandez impressed with some trademark Atleti-solidity at the back... Lucas' last-ditch tackle on Ronaldo the kind that can inspire a season-changing run of matches, and Simeone will be banking on this turning out to be the start of something new, something better.
Oh, and El Nino's run and pass for the Kevin Gameiro chance was a wonderful throwback to a happier time for Atleti's favourite son.
