Atletico Madrid brought their neighbors and guests back to reality when they thrashed their hosts 5-2 and inflicted their first defeat of the season on Saturday at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in the seventh round of the Spanish League, ending their perfect start.
Atletico owes their victory to their Argentine international striker Julian Alvarez, who scored a brace (50 from a penalty and 64), taking his tally to six goals this season and giving his team the lead after the first half ended in a 2-2 draw.
Atletico took the lead through defender Robin Le Normand (14), before Real Madrid responded through Frenchman Kylian Mbappé (25) and Turkish midfielder Arda Güler (36), before Norwegian Alexander Sörloth equalized (45+3).
Veteran French substitute Antoine Griezmann sealed the victory with a fifth goal (90+3).
- "A well-deserved loss" -
Atlético killed two birds with one stone, confirming their revival with a second consecutive victory and their third this season. This victory moves them up to fourth place with 12 points, reducing the gap to six points between them and their rivals, who suffered their first loss of the season after six consecutive wins.
Real, who fell in their first real test of the season, are now threatened with relinquishing the lead to defending champions Barcelona, who host Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Argentine coach Diego Simeone's men deserved the victory as they were the better side for most of the match and created numerous real scoring opportunities. Xabi Alonso's men, meanwhile, were content with defensive play and counterattacks in the first half, which enabled them to turn the tables. However, they failed to show any real threat in the second half despite the substitutions.
Alonso, who started with England international Jude Bellingham after recently recovering from shoulder surgery, said his team deserved the crushing defeat, adding, "We didn't play well as a team, nor did we press well. We weren't up to the task."
He added, "We're in a building phase, and today was our first defeat. We have to learn from what happened, but there are no excuses. We're hurt. It's a derby and a deserved defeat."
He continued, "We lacked intensity... We didn't compete well today, and we weren't up to the task in these matches. We're not happy, but we can't forget what we did before, and what we did well. We're on the right track... Our reaction to this will be the most important thing, in the next match, or when we face a strong opponent like Atletico today."
- Continuing the path -
On the other hand, Alvarez told the streaming network DAZN, "It's a very special day. We knew the importance of this match, of course, because it's a derby, but also because we needed the three points."
He added, "We have to continue on this path and improve the things that need improvement... We weren't achieving the desired results, but we were playing well."
Atlético pressed hard and threatened Belgian Thibaut Courtois' goal on more than one occasion. The most dangerous of these came in the third minute when Sorloth received a ball behind the defense, penetrated the area, and attempted to shoot, but Brazilian defender Eder Militao intervened at the right time (3).
Sorloth almost did it with a diving header following a cross from Pablo Barrios, which Courtois deflected for a corner (11).
Atlético opened the scoring following a cross from Juliano Simeone, son of coach Diego, followed by Le Normand with a close-range header into the net (14).
Courtois intervened at the right time and blocked the ball in front of a one-on-one with Sorloth (22).
Mbappé managed to equalize after exchanging passes with Guler, who set him up behind the defense and inside the penalty area. He penetrated and fired a powerful right-footed shot to the right of Slovenian Jan Oblak (25).
Mbappé took his tally to eight goals, leading the scorers' list.
Real took the lead when Mbappé capitalized on a stray header from Le Normant, passing it to Brazilian Vinicius Junior, who cut inside from the left, dribbling past two defenders before crossing to Guler, who fired a left-footed shot into the left of Oblak (37).
The left post denied Alvarez an equalizer by blocking his powerful shot from outside the penalty area (39).
Atlético Madrid scored a goal following a corner kick by Alvarez, which French defender Clément Lenglet followed up from close range to Courtois' right, but the goal was disallowed after a VAR review, which revealed the defender had handled the ball into the goal (43).
Sorloth scored from close range following a cross from captain Koke (45+3).
Alonso was forced to bring on defender Raúl Asensio for Militao, who suffered an injury early in the match.
Atlético were awarded a penalty kick when Guler cleared a cross from the goal and it touched the head of Argentine Nico González. Álvarez converted it to Courtois' left (52).
Álvarez, who controversially had a penalty kick overturned in the second leg of last season's Champions League Round of 16, came out on top after touching the ball twice.
"Every penalty is a new penalty, a new game, a new opportunity," said Álvarez.
Álvarez fired a free kick over the bar (59).
Courtois saved two goals by blocking close-range shots from González (60) and Sorloth (63).
Alvarez strengthened Atletico's lead with his second goal with a superb free kick (64).
Substitute Griezmann sealed the victory with a fifth goal following a counterattack. Another substitute, Alex Baena, capitalized on a poor pass from Uruguayan Federico Valverde in midfield and passed it to the Frenchman, who penetrated the area and followed it up with a low shot to Courtois' left (90+3).
In another match, Getafe drew 1-1 with Levante.
The visiting team took the lead through Ivan Romero (26), before the home side equalized through Juan Antonio Iglesias Sánchez (57).
Real Mallorca will play Deportivo Alavés later, and Villarreal will play Athletic Bilbao.
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