Atletico Madrid beat 10-man Real Madrid 2-1 as Huijsen red card decides derby
Atletico strike late after Huijsen dismissal
Diego Simeone ended his losing streak against Jose Mourinho in LaLiga as Atletico Madrid beat 10-man Real Madrid 2-1 in Sunday’s headline LaLiga clash at the Metropolitano.
The first Derbi Madrileno of the season failed to spark into life until after the break. Cristian Romero was booked after a challenge on Jude Bellingham in the only real intense moment of the first half, but after the restart Jose Mourinho’s team were by far second best.
Red card turns tide
Having been caught out by David Hancko’s searching pass, Huijsen dragged back Giuliano Simeone, who tumbled inside the area. The referee pointed straight to the spot and booked Huijsen but, after consulting the pitch-side monitor, the official upgraded the yellow card to a straight red for a last-man professional foul.
Alejandro Grimaldo made no mistake with the resulting penalty in the 53rd minute, and Atletico were 2-0 up six minutes later. Giuliano Simeone crossed in for Jonathan David to finish and become the first Atletico player to score in his first three LaLiga appearances for the club in the 21st century.
Late consolation for Madrid
Much to Diego Simeone’s frustration, boos rang out from the home fans when Julian Alvarez replaced David soon after, but the Argentine might have turned those jeers into cheers if not for Ibrahima Konate. Alvarez saw an effort cleared off the line superbly by the defender, after Thibaut Courtois had made a magnificent save to deny Romero.
Yan Diomande would have made that reprieve count when he pounced on a defensive mix-up to take a strike at goal, but Jan Oblak made a fine save. Antonio Rudiger headed home from Bernardo Silva’s free-kick in the 89th minute to drag Madrid back into it, but Atletico survived a nervy finale.
Simeone gets the better of Mourinho
During Mourinho’s first spell in charge of Madrid, he won all three of his derby clashes against Diego Simeone’s Atletico. Atletico’s coach only had a worse, 100% loss record in LaLiga against former Barcelona boss Xavi than he did against Mourinho before this contest.
Mourinho’s hoodoo over the Argentine has now ended, and Diego Simeone, as he always does, kicked every ball and felt every tackle, and it was no surprise to see him charge down the tunnel in celebration at full-time.
Atletico registered chances worth only 0.19 expected goals before the break, flipped the script after the restart, finishing with 2.38 xG. Madrid were limited to just 0.32 xG, their lowest total in a LaLiga game since February 2015. Kylian Mbappe cut a frustrated figure up front, having just one off-target shot, while Vinicius Junior lost four of his seven duels prior to being replaced by Diomande.