La Liga – What We Learned – Atlético Madrid 1 Real Madrid...

La Liga – What We Learned – Atlético Madrid 1 Real Madrid 1 [VIDEO]

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Luciano Vietto grabbed an important late equalizing goal for his new side that cancelled out Karim Benzema’s 9th minute strike to leave both Madrid sides a point in the fiery derby encounter at the Vicente Calderón.

Diego Simeone’s Atléti side welcomed local rivals, Real Madrid last night in what would be the first league Madrid derby of the season. Both sides were hoping for bragging rights and more importantly the three points, to take advantage of stumbles by league leaders Villarreal and current champions Barcelona on the weekend.  However, by the end of the grueling match, both sides walked away with a deserved point.

Simeone decided to change his team following the loss midweek in the Champions League, with a change back to his preferred 4-4-2 formation and striking partnership of the in-form Ángel Correa and Fernando Torres. However, switching to a more defensive formation proved worthless in the opening minutes, as Karim Benzema fired home a header in the early stages following Daniel Carvajal’s superb cross.

Both teams would have significant chances to score, notably Correa, Torres and Cristiano Ronaldo were guilty of wastefulness. Yet in the 21st minute, Sergio Ramos committed a bad foul on Tiago with the referee having no choice but to point to the spot for a penalty. Antoine Griezmann was the man to try leveling the scores for Atléti, but a well struck effort was brilliantly saved by Keylor Navas who pushed the ball to safety.

Real were unfortunate to see Carvajal come off injured with his performance not far from excellent, his replacement Alvaro Arbeloa brought in to deputize at right-back. The encounter would have both sides trying to play football, though a string of bad fouls interrupted the flow of the game dramatically.

Both managers decided to bring on more goal scoring threats, Jackson Martínez, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and Vietto introduced as the hosts tried to get back into the game, while Rafa Benitez decided to reintroduce Gareth Bale back into action since suffering an injury last month against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

Martínez, who was scrutinized midweek for missing numerous chances, looked determined to end his run of poor form by creating dangers for the Real backline, Navas needing to make a fine save from the Colombian in the 74th minute.

However, Atléti’s push for an equaliser would finally come off with substitute Vietto, who just missed a glorious chance to level just minutes earlier, placing the ball in the back of the net with true predatory instincts to give Atléti a deserved point.

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