Atlético Madrid are alive, the Metropolitano interrupting all the singing and the bouncing to erupt one last time when, deep into added time at the end of a derby day they will never forget, Antoine Griezmann slipped the ball under Thibaut Courtois to score their fifth. Yes, five, any fatalism blown away. So much for boring, so much for the title race being over already, so much for Real Madrid’s invincibility; this was a destruction that puts Diego Simeone’s side six points from the top – a gap, no longer an abyss – and it was thoroughly deserved.
When that last one went in, it seemed almost absurd to recall that Atlético had been 2-1 down, that a familiar fear had hung here. This was fun instead. For almost the entire second half it had been certain too: there had been no doubts, just enjoyment, total control imposed through total conviction.
They had gone a goal up through Robin Le Normand, just as they had taken the lead in every game this season only to repeatedly relinquish it, and that had slipped away from them again when Madrid scored two in 11 minutes. This time though, that came back again, goals from Alexander Sørloth and two from Julián Alvarez putting them 4-2 up. Now, here was one last flourish. A manita they call it in Spain: a little hand, a goal for each finger. Clenched perhaps: it had hit Madrid hard. They arrived having won every match, nine points above their neighbours; they left having been battered.
“No excuses, we weren’t good enough,” Xabi Alonso said. Atlético were, a wrecking ball smashing away at the edifice Alonso has been building and doing so from the very start, the noise rolling down the stands and across the pitch, rising with every run. Madrid could not deal with this. At left-back, Álvaro Carreras in particular was struggling with Giuliano Simeone, the coach’s son who plays with an intensity that is as manic as his old man.
They had only been playing three minutes when Atlético made their first chance and Sørloth had three of them before they finally got the breakthrough. Alone in the area, Sørloth slowed to shoot and was denied that time. The next, his header was pushed over by Courtois. And then, when Pablo Barrios caught Carreras and released him again, Courtois got there just in time. A moment later, Nicolás González struck just wide.
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Juventus missed the chance to move top of the Serie A standings at least temporarily when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Atalanta, coming from behind to equalise but unable to find a late winner when the visitors were down to 10 men.
Kamaldeen Sulemana twisted and turned his way into the area in first-half added time before drilling his shot through the legs of Vasilije Adzic and into the far bottom corner for Atalanta. Two substitutes combined for the 78th-minute equaliser. João Mário’s ball into the box was mis-hit by the defender Odilon Kossounou and Juan Cabal pounced to poke home from close range. Two minutes later, Atalanta’s captain, Marten de Roon, picked up a second booking, but his team held on.
Inter won 2-0 at Cagliari thanks to an early goal from Lautaro Martínez and a late strike by the substitute Francesco Pio Esposito, and moved up to fifth in the Serie A standings.
Inter are on nine points in fifth, Juventus are on 11 in second and Napoli, the leaders, are on 12 before visiting Milan on Sunday.
Borussia Dortmund outclassed 10-man Mainz 2-0 with goals from Daniel Svensson and Karim Adeyemi to secure a fourth straight league win that stretched their unbeaten run in the Bundesliga. Dortmund, who host Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League on Wednesday, have now gone 13 league matches without defeat, going back to last season, and have not conceded a league goal since the first matchday on 23 August.
Bayer Leverkusen needed the magic touch of Alejandro Grimaldo to set up goals for Edmond Tapsoba and Ernest Poku and earn a 2-1 victory at St Pauli. There was a remarkable match at Borussia Mönchengladbach, where Eintracht Frankfurt led 6-0 by the 47th minute, but let in four in the last 20 minutes and won 6-4. Reuters
The problem, though, was a recurring one: if Atlético had had a handful of clear sights already, Kylian Mbappé needed just one to wipe out all they had done, which had always been the fear. A sharp exchange with Arda Guler enabled him to spin in behind and strike a clean, low shot into a corner. At that point, it might have felt familiar. Coming into this, on average Atlético had conceded every other shot they faced, while it had taken them 10 to score. Meanwhile, this was Mbappé’s eighth league goal already.
That average was brought down too, a move that started right on Madrid’s own byline with Dean Huijsen smashing a clearance long ended in the net at the other end. Le Normand misjudged the flight; Vinícius Júnior escaped and pulled the ball back for Arda Guler to score. Two shots, two goals. And as if to prove the point, that fear that what happens in the areas had been undoing all Atlético do between them, in the very next minute Alvarez hit a post. That was Atlético’s seventh shot.
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This time though, there was a way back, justice done. Madrid had scored two from two but would not score again; they would barely shoot again, in fact. And although Atlético’s equaliser would have to wait until Koke’s glorious inswinging ball was headed in by Sørloth, they did not stop there. The striker sprinted into the welcoming arms of the supporters in the south-west corner and have returned again before the break. The latest in a long line of dangerous crosses, this time from González, just evaded his forehead as he was starting to turn the tendons in his neck.
That left Simeone Sr on his knees over on the touchline but he would be up again, loving this. They all would. The second half had barely started when Guler tried to clear a corner, instead catching González in the chest and giving away a penalty. Alvarez, who missed one at Mallorca seven days ago, made it 3-2, another ghost exorcised and this place going wild. What an afternoon it had become. Sørloth had another superb chance and before Griezmann wrapped it all up, Alvarez curled a free-kick through the wall, the cracks in Madrid’s facade found, the foundations of this stadium shaken by the noise.