La Liga sensational team slips up
Homegrown player snatches important victory from Real Madrid
Surprise team FC Girona has been leading the Spanish league for a long time. Now the underdog is weakening – but even favorite Real Madrid is slipping up. The blow comes very late in the derby against Atletico. Next week, a preliminary decision could be made in the title race.
Real Madrid has once again stumbled against its arch-rivals from home and is still only just ahead of the Spanish LaLiga. Against rivals Atletico Madrid, the record champions conceded the equalizer to make it 1:1 (1:0) in injury time through Marcos Llorente (90th+3). Brahim Diaz (20th) had previously put the leaders in the lead. Real had already lost to Atletico in extra time in the round of 16 of the cup (2:4), and Atletico also inflicted the only defeat of the season in the league to date on the star ensemble in the first half of the season (1:3).
Real did not take advantage of the slip-up of their pursuer: FC Girona only played 0:0 against Real Sociedad San Sebastian on Saturday, but is still two points behind. Next Saturday (6.30 p.m./DAZN and in the live ticker at ntv.de) Real will host the surprise team in a direct duel, a defeat would mean losing the lead in the table.
Goalscorer Diaz was only brought into Real's weakened starting eleven at short notice: Vinicius Junior dropped out due to problems with his cervical spine, and Diaz then scored after some confusion in the penalty area. Toni Kroos was also involved in the creation of the goal, with Real's 2014 world champion starting from the beginning. That did not apply to Antonio Rüdiger, who was absent due to a thigh injury.
Until the very end, coach Carlo Ancelotti had hoped that the German international would play despite the injury, because there were few alternatives: David Alaba and Eder Militao (both cruciate ligament tears) were out for a long time, and stand-in defender Aurelien Tchouameni was suspended. Ultimately, full-back Daniel Carvajal moved into central defence despite his size disadvantage. Atletico targeted this supposed weak point, relied on many crosses, and the supposed equaliser came shortly after the break following a corner: However, the VAR recognised an offside position on Stefan Savic's header. When the final whistle was very close, Atletico equalised – Llorente, who trained at Real and became a professional, scored with a header.
