It was a special day for
Diego Pablo Simeone
and it was about to become epic, so now there is surely a disappointment on his palate.
The Argentine coach broke the record for games he managed with
Atlético
and, after the unusual expulsion of the Argentine world champion
Ángel Correa
, he was able to take the lead on the scoreboard, but
Real Madrid
equalized with five minutes to go and snatched the title from him. triumph.
Photo: EFE/ Rodrigo Jimenez
It was the 612th
match
for the histrionic DT with the 'Colchonero', with which he caught up with a piece of Spanish football history like
Luis Aragonés
.
"Actually they are numbers, but they are grateful above all to the footballers, who are the ones who have allowed me to develop, to be able to express myself and to be able to meet this number of games, but it is clear that they are related to the results, otherwise the numbers would not exist. "
, he had said in the previous one.
Also in the conference before arriving at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, Simeone had spoken about the referee
Jesús Gil Manzano
, who directed a Spanish classic for the first time and arrived with the 'pressure' of the memory of the controversy of the last confrontation between both teams, the Last January 26 in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey with white victory 3-1 after extra time, with numerical superiority due to the expulsion of
Stefan Savic
and with the indignation of the rojiblanco block for not having shown the second yellow card to
Dani Ceballos
when the game was 0-1.
The referee at that time was
César Soto Grado
.
And Gil Manzano was also marked this Saturday, because he took the red card from
Ángel Correa
-he entered the complement for Rivas-, after
an elbow on the German 'giant' Antonio Rudiger
.
There were 20 minutes into the second half and the outlook was complicated for Simeone's men, who protested alluding to the difference in height between the two actors.
The gesture of the blow existed, but it seemed that the Argentine tried to get rid of him more than to attack him.
But like so many other times, it was in adversity where the 'Mattress' flag planted.
Frenchman Antoine Griezmann hit a terrific cross from a free kick and Uruguayan Josema Giménez rose aesthetically to beat goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, silencing the Bernabéu.
Atlético fell back to defend the result and succeeded... until there were 5 minutes remaining.
From the same medicine, but after a corner taken by Luka Modric, it was the Uruguayan Álvaro Rodríguez who won at the top at the first post to seal the tie.
La Liga, almost impossible for Real
The one who celebrated the tie the most, or actually Real's stumble, was
Barcelona
.
Hit by the elimination of the Europa League at the hands of Manchester United, the culé team can further their advantage from 1-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu, which rewarded Atlético's resistance.
In the table, Real Madrid was seven points behind its staunch rival, which can increase its margin to ten if it wins on Sunday in modest Almería (18th).
All this just before they meet on Thursday of next week in a Clásico in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals.
The tie in the derby puts a stop to the euphoria at Real Madrid, who had just won the Club World Cup and then chained two league victories (Osasuna and Elche), before their great victory on Tuesday 5-2 at Liverpool's ground , in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.
For its part, Atlético continues fourth, within the Champions League zone, but sees its advantage over Betis reduced to two points, which on Friday won 3-2 in the field of bottom club Elche.
In the rest of the games on Saturday, Rayo Vallecano (6th), in European positions, was surprised and lost 1-0 at Cádiz (14th), who is moving away from relegation thanks to a goal from Sergio Guardiola in the 74.
Espanyol (12th) settled in the quiet zone with a 2-1 victory against Mallorca (8th), with a double from the Danish Martin Braithwaite.
look also
Goal-scoring return of Julián Alvarez and debut of Máximo Perrone in City's triumph