Real Madrid 3-7 Atletico Madrid
Talk about total domination.
In what was a surprising one-sided affair for this much-awaited matchup, the Atletico Madrid dismantled their city rivals Real Madrid, 7-3, in the International Champions Cup at the MetLife Stadium last night.
With both teams making big splashes in preparing for the upcoming La Liga season, it’s surprising as to why Real Madrid didn’t come to play this time around.
Los Rojiblancos came out firing on all cylinders from the get-go, with Diego Costa chipping in early goals. Los Blancos, on the other hand, looked hapless and lost – particularly on defence where they had trouble all night.
Zinedine Zidane was understandably furious during the post-game press conference, and he vowed to use this loss as motivation as they look forward to the season.
“We never entered the game. We have lacked everything, especially intensity. They scored seven goals, it can’t happen,” lamented the Frenchman.
Atletico Madrid basically took advantage of every single miscue Real Madrid committed in what was a masterful performance. Say what you want that it’s still the pre-season, but Zinedine Zidane will have some nightmares after this.
Today, SBOBET looks into what happened in this one-sided matchup.
Highlights of the game
To start the game, Los Rojiblancos were noticeably quick on their feet and very eager to get their attack going.
In what should be an inclusion to the International Champions Cup 2019 highlights, Joao Felix found a speeding Diego Costa towards the box and the latter fired one over Sergio Ramos to give the club its first goal of the evening.
Luka Modric tried to cross for a possible header in the fifth minute. However, Atleti’s defence stopped it easily as Real missed shot after shot.
A few minutes later, Joao Felix got one goal under his name after a beautiful setup by Saul. The 19-year-old forward has been living up to his billing so far with his fine play.
Angel Correa joined the fray by finding the back of the net at the 18th minute. After receiving the ball, Correa took advantage of Real’s porous defence and instinctively kicked the ball right past Courtois.
Diego Costa added two more after miscues by Sergio Ramos and Luka Modric at the 28th minute. Saul took advantage of an errant pass by Real and Costa breezed through with an easy score.
The Spaniard was again given the opportunity – this time via a penalty kick because of Isco’s silly challenge. Costa’s cool demeanour helped him bag his personal hat trick at the first half.
In the 51st minute, Costa scored again after a nifty pass by Joao Felix with poor Keylor Navas trailing from behind.
Finally, Real Madrid got into the scoresheet after an excellent byline play by Eden Hazard eight minutes later.
Diego Costa and Dani Carvajal soon got into a skirmish and they were escorted out of the stadium after receiving red cards. Both managers then decided to bring in some key players off the bench.
Vitolo made his impact right away by blazing past Real Madrid’s defence and the score is up 7-1 with 20 minutes left.
Gareth Bale also came off from the bench for Los Blancos. In what will be his last time wearing a Real Madrid uniform, the Welsh forward did pretty well in his limited time. However, he didn’t really have any effect on the game.
Within the last ten minutes, Karim Benzema and Javi Hernandez took turns on pouring in a couple of goals to lessen the deficit towards the end.
Key statistics
Diego Costa hit four goals total in this game – with three of them coming from the first half.
The Spanish forward notched his first goal in the first 45 seconds of the match. It’s hard to remember as to when that last happened.
Atletico Madrid ended the first half in dominating fashion, holding Real Madrid scoreless at 5-0.
Despite the masterful performance by Atletico Madrid, overall statistics looked closer than it should. Real Madrid have more possession (53-per cent) and passes (476).
Real Madrid finally scored its first goal in the 59th minute, and they added two more to make the final score look more respectable.
Los Blancos have now conceded 12 goals total in their three pre-season games this summer.
What’s next?
As mentioned, Real Madrid will be letting Gareth Bale go after the latter has agreed to join Jiangsu Suning in China. Keeping James Rodriguez, on the other hand, would alleviate some of their problems in lieu of Marco Asensio’s recent ACL injury.
It will be back to the drawing board for Zinedine Zidane as they’ll prepare to face Tottenham in their next game on July 30. Their International Champions Cup 2019 odds on that game are not looking so good because their defence clearly needs work.
As for Atletico Madrid, they will go up against the MLS All-Stars at the Orlando City Stadium on August 1 to round out their US trip.
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