Atletico Madrid hammered Real Madrid on Saturday in the first derby of the season, with some calamitous defending from Los Blancos leading to a comprehensive 5-2 win from their city rivals. Julian Alvarez stole the show from Kylian Mbappe by scoring twice for Diego Simeone's side, while Antoine Griezmann added a fifth in stoppage time to complete the rout.
Mbappe got on the scoresheet, and Arda Guler grabbed a goal, but it was mostly an evening of defensive mistakes from the Liga title hopefuls, as they couldn't handle Atleti's direct attack.
Los Blancos looked rattled early on and Atletico were good value for the opening goal, a lovely header from Robin Le Normand. But Madrid responded twice. Mbappe buried the equaliser after 25 minutes, darting onto Guler's slipped through-ball and smashing home. Guler put Madrid in the lead soon after when he tucked past Jan Oblak after a fine piece of skill and set up play from Vinicius Jr.
But Madrid looked frail at the back, and were accordingly punished. Alex Sorloth leveled the contest on the stroke of half time, rising between Madrid's centre backs to head past a stranded Thibaut Courtois.
Atleti reclaimed the lead early in the second half. Guler's high boot inside the box caught Nico Gonzalez. The referee pointed to the spot, and Alvarez converted to put the hosts ahead. He made it four just after the hour mark with a delightful free-kick that swerved and dipped over the Madrid wall. Antoine Griezmann added the final blow, passing into the bottom corner in second half stoppage time to wrap up a memorable derby win.
GOAL rates Real Madrid's players from the Metropolitano…
GettyGoalkeeper & Defence
Thibaut Courtois (5/10):
Helpless on the two Atleti first half goals, and made a couple of nice saves otherwise. Done for power on the penalty.
Dani Carvajal (5/10):
Atleti had plenty of joy down his wing, and he wasn't great going forward, either.
Eder Militao (6/10):
Picked up a knock early on and never quite seemed to get back into things. Unable to play on and removed at half time.
Dean Huijsen (5/10):
Couldn't handle Sorloth at all, and was uncharacteristically sloppy on the ball.
Alvaro Carreras (5/10):
Looked a bit rattled by the occasion. Poor.
AdvertisementGettyMidfield
Aurelien Tchouameni (5/10):
Rather overrun at the base of midfield. Atleti pressed him and he had few answers.
Federico Valverde (6/10):
Tracked back plenty and was full of energy, but failed to impact the game in an attacking sense.
Jude Bellingham (6/10):
Wayward in his first La Liga start of the season. Good in his defensive work but not on the ball much.
GettyAttack
Arda Guler (7/10):
Inconsistent. Scored one, assisted another. Also gave away a penalty and was a little outmuscled at times.
Kylian Mbappe (6/10):
Took his goal wonderfully, but then went rather quiet for the rest of the game. Atleti handled him excellently.
Vinicius Jr (6/10):
A bix mixed until he provided a signature cut-back to set up Arda Guler's goal – which seemed to wake him up a bit. Then got dragged into some petty stuff and never recovered.
GettySubs & Manager
Raul Asencio (4/10):
Replaced the injured Militao at half time. Nowhere on the fifth goal.
Eduardo Camavinga (6/10):
Snapped into tackles, won the ball, and tried to bring some energy.
Franco Mastantuono (5/10):
Tried to do too much with the ball.
Rodrygo (N/A):
No time to make an impact
Gonzalo Garcia (N/A):
No time to make an impact
Xabi Alonso (4/10):
Tried to fit all of the big guns into the same side, but it was his defence that offered some concerns. First tough game, first big defeat.
