‘Cholo’ Simeone’s Atlético de Madrid and their heartbreaking draw in the classic against Real which gave life to the Spanish championship

A header from Marcos Llorente In the 93rd minute the Argentine coach unleashes the jubilant madness Diego Pablo Simeonethe one with his Atletico Madrid was once again the bête noire of the real Madrid in the classic and fueled hopes of obtaining the title The Leaguethanks to the 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabéu.

The White House was unable to take advantage of Saturday’s draw (0-0) between Girona (2nd) and Real Sociedad (6th). With this result, Real Madrid leads with 58 points, followed by Girona (56), Barcelona (3rd with 50) and Atlético (48).

“It’s a point. The team looked for it until the end. I think it’s a deserved draw. For me it was a strange match. We had scoring situations, they scored for us, they were better than us, but we had more situations than them “The second half was long, with few situations on both sides. It wasn’t even close to the lively games of the last few.”Cholo said.

“Always moving away from home is not bad”continued Simeone, who insisted: “I think it was a weak match for both teams. It wasn’t a lively match. It was more measured, careful, nobody wanted to make mistakes. The second half was similar. They made two, we had Griezmann and the goal was simply disallowed because Saúl was in front of the goalkeeper and the goal that gave us the equalizer is worth continuing to add in La Liga.”.

His team didn’t start well. Simeone gesticulated tensely, nervously, sometimes he despaired, sometimes he asked for calm, he moved from side to side as if he were still a footballer whose playing field is reduced to the technical area, in a failed staging, which he saved Llorente in the end and left his team in the tenth consecutive derby without winning on the territory of their “eternal” rival. He hasn’t won there since February 27, 2016.

From 8 April 2017, with a 1-1, until 4 February 2024, with another 1-1. They have lost in five of their last ten visits. He tied up five more. In five he hasn’t scored a goal. Their worst streak without a win in Madrid is fourteen matches, between 1973 and 1983. From 2003 to 2013 they played twelve. From 1957 to 1964 another eleven.

Atlético did not recognize themselves, especially in the first half (perhaps further), surpassed, out of place, unknown, with the goal against revealed by the rejection of Koke Resurrección, perhaps before his last derby, the number 40, if he does not renew the contract expiring on 30 June 2024, but that was the most predictable outcome, even if every rebound favored Real Madrid, finally conquered by Brahim Díaz against Jan Oblak.

Simeone’s bet on Rodrigo Riquelme was unsuccessful. On the stage of the Santiago Bernabéu, in the dimension and difficulty of a match like this, the ‘Roro’, pure excess, suffered in the left lane. Then moving to right midfielder, faced with the anxiety of the whole team, not just him, he remained on the bench at half-time, like on Wednesday against Rayo.

The hope of a goal in the 48th minute from Stefan Savic, who finished Antoine Griezmann’s devilish corner, vanished as soon as referee Sánchez Martínez consulted his assistant on the sidelines. Once Atlético had already celebrated the 1-1 draw, he announced the offside with which Saúl Ñíguez invalidated the action, almost to the edge of the goal line, hindering Lunin.

Simeone brought in Samuel Lino, Memphis Depay and Pablo Barrios. Subsequently he definitively bet on Ángel Correa, replacing Koke. The Argentine crosses, Griezmann finishes with his heel, Lunin saves the opportunity. It seemed like the end of La Liga. Until suddenly he appeared Marcos Llorente.

In the other matches of the day, Betis (8th) drew 1-1 at home against Getafe (10th) with goals from penalties from Isco (35th) and Mason Greenwood (8th). Furthermore, Villarreal (14th) and Cadiz (18th) drew goalless and Celta (16th) surprised with a 3-0 at Osasuna (12th).