With a little more than a minute on the clock in stoppage time, Real Madrid's Bernardo Silva stood with the ball at his feet yards from the penalty area with a wide selection of teammates in front of him, eager to flick the ball into the back of the net for an equalizer at Atletico Madrid. It was not hard to envision Silva pulling this off, not only because of his own skill but because Los Blancos are the kings of nicking points off opponents on days they did not deserve them. The fact that Silva's free kick was this valuable was down to a stroke of luck – they underwhelmed for 85 minutes but Antonio Rudiger's 89th-minute goal off a set piece meant they needed just one more thing to go right to take home a point they did not deserve.
The ball landed to an opponent in short order, who cleared the ball out of the box without an extraordinary effort. Real Madrid would leave the Metropolitano Stadium with a 2-1 loss that puts them six points behind LaLiga leaders Barcelona. Jose Mourinho's side were third at the final whistle but could end the weekend in fourth as long as Real Betis pick up at least a point at Deportivo La Coruna.
Los Blancos' misfortune is well-earned, no matter how you look at Sunday's defeat to their crosstown rivals. Prone to complaints about referees, Real Madrid may try to string together the argument that Dean Huijsen's 53rd-minute red card for the denial of a goalscoring opportunity and the subsequent penalty scored by Alejandro Grimaldo wrecked their game plan. They would not exactly be wrong – it is obviously harder to win a game down a man and a goal – but the mess was of the visitors' creation, and the problems began long before the center back was sent off.
The Madrid derby is one of the more intriguing games on LaLiga's schedule but the first half was as dull as it gets, neither team living up to the billing. The pair combined for 10 shots that generated a total of 0.22 expected goals, only one of those attempts landing on target. Both Real and Atleti were at fault for the lifeless display but at least manager Diego Simeone had the foresight to do something about it.
The Atleti boss brought on midfielder Koke for center back Marc Pubill at halftime, shifting Marcos Llorente from his central midfield role next to Johnny Cardoso to wingback. The plan worked – Atleti were too respectful to the visitors in the first half but those switches allowed them to exploit their opponents' tepid play and in particular their disorganized defense. Huijsen's red card was a natural result; Grimaldo's spot kick a deserved reward.
GRIMALDO OPENS UP THE SCORING FROM THE SPOT IN THE MADRID DERBY! Real Madrid are down to 10 after a Dean Huijsen red card.📺 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/iog1bOtwiC Real Madrid had no way to wrestle the ball back from Atleti, who boasted 65% possession after the break, but their uninspiring first-half showing was already an example of that. The stretch after Huijsen's red card only exaggerated the experience – Atleti were wreaking havoc, bagging a second in quick succession thanks to Jonathan David in the 59th minute.
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