Sports

Rodrygo, Valverde score in Real Madrid derby win over Atletico

Madrid, Sep 18 (EFE).- Real Madrid needed just 35 minutes and two chances to knock off their crosstown rivals Atletico Madrid, who had come out with a bang at the opening whistle but were smothered by the unparalleled effectiveness of the visitors.

With the loss before a crowd of 66,881 at Wanda Metropolitano stadium, Atletico now sits eight points down from Los Blancos on the La Liga table.

Real Madrid’s first goal came in the 18th minute after a pass from Aurelien Tchouameni over the heads of the intervening defenders that set up the driving Rodrygo – in the striker position replacing Karim Benzema, who is still out due to injury – for the tally.

Fede Valverde scored the second one past goaltender Jan Oblak 17 minutes later off a shot by Vinicius Junior that ricocheted off the post. It was Valverde’s third goal in as many games.

The home squad had to wait until the 83rd minute to get on the board, the tally coming when Real goaltender Thibaut Courtois made a mistake that enabled Mario Hermoso to get one into the twine, although it came too little too late to do any real damage to Carlo Ancelotti’s boys.

Hermoso wound up getting booted on two consecutive yellow cards in the 89th and 91st minutes.

Real Madrid has now won every La Liga match so far this season and sits atop the rankings with 18 points, two points ahead of Barcelona and three in front of Real Betis, while Atletico is tied for seventh place with Real Sociedad with 10 points.

Meanwhile, Atletico has just one victory in its last 13 derbies and just three in its past 18 such outings in all competitions.

The match was marred by racism as some Atletico fans entered the stadium chanting “You’re a monkey, Vinicius, you’re a monkey,” a reference to the samba dance that he does after his team scores, but that didn’t stop him from indulging in his rhythmic celebration with Rodrygo after the latter’s goal.

Courtois said after the match that “There’s no room for racism, and it’s really bad that those chants happen. … Obviously, it can be a minority of fans, but this is racism and we need to call it like it is,” adding “I hope that (they) can find out who those people are, there are cameras everywhere and some people don’t understand what they’re saying.”

Lineups:

Atletico de Madrid: Oblak; Llorente, Felipe, Witsel, Reinildo, Carrasco (Hermoso, m. 72); De Paul (Morata, m. 61), Kondogbia (Saul, m. 81), Koke (Correa, m. 72); Griezmann and Joao Felix (Cunha, m. 61).

Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy (Rudiger, m. 74); Tchouameni, Kroos (Asensio, m. 86), Modric (Camavinga, m. 82); Fede Valverde, Vinicius and Rodrygo (Ceballos, m. 86).

EFE id/ism/bp

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