Soccer Football - LaLiga - Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - February 8, 2025 Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe in action with Atletico Madrid's Marcos Llorente and Rodrigo De Paul REUTERS/Juan Medina
MADRID (Reuters) -Real Madrid salvaged a 1-1 draw against city rivals Atletico Madrid in LaLiga on Saturday with Kylian Mbappe scoring a second-half goal to cancel out Julian Alvarez's first-half opener for the visiting side.
That kept Real top of LaLiga on 50 points, one ahead of Atletico in second who missed a chance to leapfrog them. Barcelona, third on 45 points, visit Sevilla on Sunday with a chance to close the gap in the title race.
In a tale of two halves at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, Atletico dominated the first 45 minutes and took the lead when Alvarez struck a 35th minute penalty after Aurelien Tchouameni had fouled Samuel Lino inside the box.
Real roared back after the break, with Mbappe striking home a rebound in the 50th minute to level the game. But they were frustrated in their attempt to grab a win by an imperious Jan Oblak, who made a string of stunning saves.
Diego Simeone's Atletico arrived in fine form, having won 19 of their previous 21 games in all competitions and they showed why they have the best defence in Europe’s top five leagues with 15 goals conceded in 23 games.
On Saturday, despite missing defensive stalwart Robin Le Normand to suspension, Simeone’s side was once again rock-solid at the back, frustrating Real's stellar attack who were unable to create a single shot on target in the first half.
Winger Lino and forward Alvarez were a constant menace up and down the left channel, often exposing the deficiencies of Lucas Vazquez and Tchouameni who got the start in a depleted Real defence without their top four defenders due to injuries.
PENALTY
In the 25th minute, Atletico's players complained forcefully to the referee over a studs-up challenge on Pablo Barrios by Dani Ceballos, asking for a straight red. But Cesar Soto Grado gave only a yellow.
Five minutes later, Atletico had their complaints heard when Tchouameni left a foot in on Lino as the ball came into the box in a quick counter-attack. At first, the referee did not spot the foul but after he was called to review the play in the VAR booth, he pointed to the penalty spot.
Cold-blooded Alvarez held his nerve under deafening booing from the sold-out Santiago Bernabeu crowd to brazenly chip his penalty down the middle as Thibaut Courtois dived low.
Lino and Alvarez wasted golden opportunities that should have given the visitors a more comfortable lead and they paid a heavy price as Real came back livelier after the break, with Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo impressing in the channels.
It took them five minutes to find the equaliser when Rodrygo ran past two opponents on the right wing and crossed to Jude Bellingham who sliced his first touch strike from close-range. Gimenez managed to block the rebound which fell to Mbappe, who fired home the loose ball.
Real went all out for the three points but ran into Oblak, who denied close-range efforts by Vinicius, Rodrygo, Mbappe and Bellingham, who also had a strike off the crossbar, to secure Atletico's point.
(Reporting by Fernando Kallas; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
