Atletico Madrid edged 10-man Real Madrid 2-1 in a heated La Liga derby on Sunday, leaving Jose Mourinho's side six points adrift of leaders Barcelona.
Dean Huijsen was sent off early in the second half for Los Blancos after pulling down Giuliano Simeone in the box, and Alejandro Grimaldo converted the resulting penalty. Jonathan David doubled the lead on 59 minutes, while Antonio Rudiger pulled one back late for Real, who suffered their second defeat of the campaign.
Atletico climbed to second place, five points behind Barcelona and one ahead of Real Madrid. The game hinged on Huijsen's red card and Grimaldo's spot-kick, which set Diego Simeone's side on their way.
Mourinho opted for Aurelien Tchouameni over Bernardo Silva in midfield, prioritizing defensive solidity over creativity. The first half was more about tension than quality, with neither side creating clear chances. The main talking point was an incident between Jude Bellingham and Atletico defender Cristian Romero: Bellingham threw himself into a tackle, Romero trod on his leg, and after a VAR review, the referee rescinded Bellingham's yellow card and issued it to Romero instead.
Madrid were also unhappy that a heavy tackle by Lee Kang-in on Federico Valverde went unpunished just before half-time. It was a scrappy battle, intense but lacking excitement, with Madrid's star forwards Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe, and Bellingham kept quiet.
The game burst into life early in the second half when Huijsen pulled back Giuliano Simeone's arm as the forward ran through on goal, and Atletico were awarded a penalty. Huijsen was dismissed after a VAR review, and Grimaldo beat Thibaut Courtois from the spot. Mourinho reacted immediately by replacing the underwhelming Vinicius and Arda Guler with club-record signing Yan Diomande and Rudiger.
Atletico struck next, though, with Canada international David tucking away Simeone's raking low cross on 59 minutes for his third goal in three matches. The hosts came close to a third, but Courtois made an excellent save to deny Julian Alvarez, and Ibrahima Konate headed Grimaldo's rebound off the line.
Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak saved from Diomande, and Bellingham rowed with Simeone as Madrid's frustrations showed. Rudiger headed Bernardo Silva's cross past Oblak in the final stages, but it was too little too late for Mourinho's side.
Source: www.aljazeera.com