Diego Simeone’s side looked alarmingly like a team who have lost their identity in a bloodless 2-0 defeat at Real Madrid
On Sunday night at the Santiago Bernabéu, Atlético Madrid pulled off a spectacular smash-and-grab 2-0 victory against Real Madrid. Both Atlético goals came from surgical counterattacks, after being forced to soak up long spells of pressure. Despite playing most of the game on the front foot and having the majority of the chances, Real were undone by customary defensive lapses and a curious lack of intensity in key moments of the game.
Sounds pretty plausible, right? And to be fair, that’s almost what happened. As the particularly observant among you will have noticed, I just swapped the names of the two teams. In reality, it was Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid who spent much of the game camped in their penalty area. It was Diego Simeone’s Atléti who ended up weaving lots of pretty patterns to very little effect. And in reality it was Real who won, opening up a 13-point gap between the city rivals that nobody seriously believes will be overhauled.
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