After the derby defeat, Diego Pablo Simeone felt nostalgic in the Metropolitano’s press room: “The power is wonderful,” he said, referring to the Real Madrid strike. “When I see a team defending low and attacking like that, the truth is I like it. It reminds me of the team we had there with Costa, that we came out on the break… And some criticized us for playing defensively. Oh well…”.
The two shots Madrid had just knocked him out with might have seemed like counterattacks, especially in the last stretch of play, but they came from developments chewed up from behind. Both goals come from goal kicks that Militão direct towards Courtois, as Carlo Ancelotti emphasized during his performance, after the Argentine’s: “In the first half we managed the start from behind very well. With starts from Thibaut we scored both goals. We felt good.”
They were two different sequences but shared a well-crafted opening routine in which the footballers lined up practically exactly on the field to organize a clean exit down the middle. The first time they do it through Tchouameni, closer to the area, and the second time, with Kroos, a little further away. From there the developments are different: with the score at 0-1, Madrid plays a game of nine passes in 28 seconds, which Valverde suddenly accelerates after the fifth, until Rodrygo Goes culminates it by using the delicate Vaseline that Tchouameni He deposited , quickly finished him between the penalty spot and the edge of the small Oblak penalty area.
The pass order of 0-1 opta
Valverde’s 2-0 sequence was more involved: 21 passes and a minute during which the ball wandered from one ribbon to the other several times and even returned to Courtois’ feet at one point, having previously reached the Uruguayan and gotten close to the one opposite Area. That kickback as they pool the ball looking for the gap to sneak through helps Rojiblanca’s defense move forward again, clearing the space behind which Modric sends the ball to Vinicius.
The game from 0-2.Opt
The development is reminiscent of the patience with which Madrid worked through a failed free-kick attempt against Celtic on the first day of the Champions League in Glasgow. But Modric was covered and the plan was thwarted in the first point, so Ancelotti’s team undertook a sequence of 33 passes and 1:37 minutes that ended 3-0 to Eden Hazard. It was Madrid’s longest goal in the Champions League of the 434 Opta have scored since the 2003/04 season.
That happened against an already defeated team in the 77th minute. The derby was 0-2 in the 36th minute. Simeone later lamented his players’ lack of aggressiveness: “If you don’t have intensity against Madrid, it’s very difficult to bring it back” . The Argentine saw this trait in Ancelotti’s team, who decided to accept some of Simeone’s praise without discussing his reference to counterattacks: “If Simeone said we defended well in the low block, thank you very much. It’s a compliment.”
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