Huijsen's red card decided the derby, but Madrid had created almost nothing before it.
The numbers
| Real Madrid | Atlético Madrid | |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 39% | 61% |
| Shots | 8 | 18 |
| xG | 0.3 | 2.35 |
| Touches in opp. box | 14 | 37 |
Result the chances deserved: Real Madrid win 3%, draw 13%, Atlético Madrid win 84% (Poisson model on each side's xG).
Starting line-ups
Real Madrid (4-2-3-1): Courtois, Dumfries, Konaté, Huijsen, Cucurella, Valverde, Tchouaméni, Güler, Bellingham, Vinícius Jr, Mbappé.
Atlético Madrid (3-4-2-1): Oblak, Pubill, Romero, Hancko, G. Simeone, Llorente, Cardoso, Grimaldo, Lee Kang-in, Baena, J. David.
Atlético subs: Koke (46', Pubill), Julián Álvarez (62', David), Lookman (67', Baena), Le Normand & Hjulmand (89'). Atlético manager: Diego Simeone. Huijsen sent off 52' (initially booked; upgraded to red after the referee checked the monitor). Madrid's shape as listed by FotMob; one ratings piece (Yahoo) describes Valverde and Güler as wide midfielders.
Key moments, move by move
- Hancko plays a long diagonal pass over Madrid's left side.
- Giuliano Simeone runs into the gap between Cucurella and Huijsen.
- Huijsen pulls him back inside the box. After a VAR check the yellow becomes a red card.
- Grimaldo scores the penalty.
- With an extra man, Atlético work the ball out to the right.
- Giuliano Simeone gets to the byline and crosses low.
- David finishes from close range with his left foot.
- Bernardo Silva, on for seven minutes, delivers a free kick into the box.
- Rüdiger rises completely unmarked and heads it in.
Atlético's overload on Madrid's left
- The plan: Simeone aimed his team at the space between Cucurella and Huijsen, sending Giuliano Simeone, Llorente and Pubill into that area together (YSScores). The penalty and red card came from exactly that move: Hancko's long pass and Giuliano's run behind.
- No help for Cucurella: Vinícius stayed high rather than tracking back, and Cucurella was often left one against two (Yahoo ratings). Vinícius lost four of his seven duels (beIN).
- No ball, no transitions: Madrid had 39% possession and 14 touches in Atlético's box. Mbappé had one shot, which missed. Simeone said afterwards that his team had controlled 'almost all' of Madrid's transitions.
- Before the red: the first half was cagey. Atlético had 0.19 xG before the break (Opta) and there was one shot on target in total. Koke came on at half-time and Atlético started moving the ball from side to side. The red card came seven minutes later.
What the analysts said
“Those were two clear red cards… we can imagine what 50 minutes of 11 against nine would have been like if justice had been done.”José Mourinho, on Romero and Lee Kang-in (Sky Sports)
“Huijsen's sending off, I confess I still haven't seen it.”José Mourinho (Comuniate)
“We stopped an opponent that has incredible transitions, we controlled almost all of those transitions.”Diego Simeone (Goal / LiveScore)
“Not everything is permissible, even if your name is Mourinho.”Diego Simeone, replying to the referee complaints (Goal / LiveScore)
The red card decided the score. Madrid's missing ball decided the game.
Mourinho spent his press conference on the referee, holding up photos of Romero's stamp on Bellingham and Lee Kang-in's on Valverde. He may be right that both deserved red cards. But look at what Madrid did with eleven players. In the first half there was one shot on target from either team, a Güler effort that Oblak saved. Over the full game they managed 0.30 xG and 14 touches in Atlético's box. In their previous seven games Madrid had averaged about three xG per match.
The goal that changed the game wasn't a random moment either. Simeone set his team up to attack the space between Cucurella and Huijsen, with Giuliano Simeone, Llorente and Pubill all pushing into it. Vinícius stayed high, so Cucurella was often facing two players on his own. Hancko's long pass and Giuliano's run behind Huijsen were the planned move, not a lucky break.
The pattern matters because it can be copied. Madrid's front four leave only a few players behind the ball, which is how they create three xG against weaker teams. Against a team that can keep the ball and then play into the space behind the left-back, the same shape leaves two defenders facing three attackers.