On Sunday, Real Madrid came from one goal down to score a late equalizer from their French international Karim Benzema in the Madrid derby against league leader Atletico.
With just 15 minutes in the first half, Luis Suarez put Atletico ahead with a superb outside-of-boot shot that beat Thibaut Courtois. Although their appeal for a penalty was denied when Felipe handled Tony Kroos’s corner in the penalty area, Madrid’s performance was poor for most of the first period.
The league leader continued their soccer brilliance in the second half but couldn’t increase their tally as Courtois made multiple saves to deny Suarez and Yannick Carrasco to keep Real hope alive. Benzema’s goal came in the 88th minutes, but before Atletico, goalkeeper Jan Oblak made three excellent save to keep his team in front. With still one outstanding game to play, Atletico is five points above Real.
With Atletico leading the league table by five points heading in Sunday match and Barcelona winning their game on Saturday night, Real needed not to lose. The return of Benzema is a positive sign for Real as he has proven, for now, to be the only real goal-getter, as Benzema demonstrated in Sunday’s match.
In the first leg in this fixture in December, Real Madrid won with an impressive performance, particularly taking control of the game in the mid-field, but tonight’s, especially in the first half, they were the second-best.
But with Benzema’s return, Real Madrid again has a significant strike force that can provide the type of reliable scoring magic that Isco, Marco Asensio, Vinicius Junior, and Rodrygo, all of whom have scored five goals among them this season, lack.
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