Atletico had not had a shot on target, and then Huijsen was sent off in the 52nd minute

Atletico Madrid went into the interval of the first Madrid derby of the season without a single shot on target. Forty-five minutes later they were two goals up, Real Madrid were down to ten men, and Jose Mourinho was on his way to a press conference with a sheet of photographs in his hand.

Atletico won it 2-1 at the Metropolitano on Sunday and moved above Real Madrid in the table for the trouble. The game turned on one decision in the 52nd minute and never really turned back.

The 52nd minute

David Hancko slid a pass in behind the Real Madrid back line and Dean Huijsen, caught square, dragged Giuliano Simeone down inside the area. The referee gave the penalty and booked him. Then he went to the pitchside monitor, looked again, and upgraded the yellow to a straight red for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

Alejandro Grimaldo took the penalty and scored it, his first goal in a Madrid derby. Six minutes later Jonathan David made it 2-0. Real Madrid had gone from level and comfortable to a goal down and a man short inside sixty seconds.

A first half worth almost nothing

What makes the result strange is how little Atletico had done before it. They did not register a shot on target in the opening 45 minutes, which had never happened to them in the first half of a home league derby against Real Madrid. Their first-half expected goals figure was 0.19. There was one attempt on target in the half between the two sides.

What Atletico did do was foul. Ten of them in the first half, their highest count in a first half against Real Madrid since April 2018, in a game that stayed scratchy from the first whistle to the last.

Real Madrid finished on 0.32 expected goals, their lowest figure in a La Liga match since February 2015. Atletico ended on 2.38, of which 1.24 came from open play. A penalty and a man advantage account for most of the gap, but 0.32 across ninety minutes is not a number a team with Real Madrid’s forward line should be producing whatever the circumstances.

Jonathan David has not stopped

David’s finish was his third goal in an Atletico shirt and it came in his third La Liga appearance for the club. No Atletico player this century has scored in each of his first three league games for them.

He arrived to share a forward line with Julian Alvarez, who has spent the early weeks of the season managing a quadriceps problem and who started this one on the bench. Three appearances, three goals and a derby winner is an emphatic way of covering for him. Giuliano Simeone, who won the penalty, was the other Atletico player the Metropolitano was still singing about at full time.

Rudiger made it uncomfortable

Antonio Rudiger headed in from a free-kick in the 89th minute and Atletico had to survive a genuinely nervous finish, which is not something the xG column would tell you. Real Madrid had spent an hour with ten men creating close to nothing and then came within a set piece of taking a point off the derby anyway.

They did not get it. Real Madrid have now lost twice in seven league games.

Mourinho brought pictures

Mourinho arrived at the post-match press conference with photographs and argued that two Atletico players should have been sent off before Huijsen was, citing a challenge by Cuti Romero on Jude Bellingham and an incident involving Kang-in Lee and Fede Valverde.

He then went after the appointment itself. “This combination: a poor referee who has only officiated small games and a VAR official with a long history,” he said. “They’ve put a referee, aged 41, with no international experience, it’s certainly not because he’s a great referee.”

Simeone was asked about it and did not let it go unanswered. “We have to respect the referees,” he said, “because if we don’t, we all lose. Not everything goes, even if your name is Mourinho.”

There is one more thing in this for Simeone, and he did not need to mention it. He lost all three La Liga derbies he played against Mourinho during the Portuguese’s first spell at Real Madrid. This was the fourth, thirteen years later, and the first of them he has won. He had beaten Mourinho once before, in the 2013 Copa del Rey final, which was the last Madrid derby Mourinho took charge of until Sunday.

The table after seven

Barcelona have won all seven of their league games and lead on 21 points with a goal difference of plus 24. Atletico are second on 16, ahead of Real Betis on goal difference, and Real Madrid are fourth on 15.

Six points is not a crisis in September. It is, though, the first time this season that Real Madrid have had to look up at two teams instead of one, and they arrived at the Metropolitano in second place.

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