The title race in La Liga is set to remain a tight battle, after the top two met at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on Saturday night to play out a draw as Real Madrd fought back to cancel out Atlético Madrid’s first-half lead and take away a point each with a 1-1 tie.
Julián Álvarez scored on his first appearance at the Bernabéu as an Atlético player, converting a penalty-kick in the Panenka style before half-time to give the visitors the advantage, reflecting a first-half in which Atlético had looked the more threatening of the two teams in a tight affair with neither side conceding many chances.
Early in the second half, Kylian Mbappé struck back, also scoring in his first Madrid derby at the Bernabéu, as he didn’t hesitate to fire in a rebound in the box after Jude Bellingham’s initial strike was blocked by José María Giménez.
Both sides would go on to seek another goal, with Bellingham hitting the crossbar with a header from close range only minutes after Mbappé scored an equalizing goal for Real Madrid. The home team had the better of the chances in the second period, though Atlético remained dangerous on the counter-attack and Giuliano Simeone and Marcos Llorente both allowed good chances to go missing.
Refereeing controversy in the build-up… and in the game
Much of the build up to this fixture had been surrounding refereeing decisions in recent weeks. Real Madrid had sent a public letter to the Spanish Soccer Federation (RFEF) to complain about decisions made in their defeat to Espanyol last weekend, while Atlético responded with a series of posts online which ended with one which expressed the club’s “full support and solidarity to the entire team of referees, their families and friends”.
Inevitably, the performance of referee César Soto Grado would come under the spotlight, and he was not aided by a series of difficult decisions. Firstly, he opted to show a yellow card to Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos for a crunching late tackle on Pablo Barrios, which VAR did not intervene on, while he then awarded a penalty to the visitors shortly before half-time after Aurélien Tchouameni brought down Samuel Lino and VAR recommended an on-field review.
“Corruption in the federation” was the chant that went up around the Bernabéu, with some unsavory scenes seeing fans in the stands turning to shout abuse at those in the press box covering the game. “You’ve all been bought,” one fan shouted.
The impact on the La Liga title race
There remains only one point between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid at the top of the league table, with Los Blancos ahead on 50 points. The Colchoneros follow them closely behind on 49 points, with both teams having played 23 games.
Barcelona are the third side in with a say, but sit five points behind. There fixture against Sevilla at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán on Sunday night will give them a chance to reduce the gap to only two points from top spot. The Catalans are still yet to welcome Real Madrid this season, with that fixture scheduled for mid-May.