La Liga - Atletico pay the penalty

Eurosport - Mon, 20 Oct 14:03:00 2008

A penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time from Gonzalo Higuain gave Real Madrid a 2-1 victory over city rivals Atletico and sent them top of La Liga.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 La Liga Atlético-Real Madrid Higuain celebra su gol Foto: EFE - 0

A 90th-minute free-kick from Simao looke to have given Atletico a share of the points following Ruud Van Nistelrooy's first-minute opener, though a late challenge from Johnny Heitinga on Royston Drenthe gave the champions the chance they needed to clinch the three points.

Real now temporarily move to second in the table, two points ahead Sevilla, while Atletico remain seventh.

No sooner had the Atletico faithful taken their seats after kick-off, than they were straight out of them again, voicing their fury at watching their team go a goal down within minutes for the second time in two years.

Atletico seemed to have a solid defensive shape when Van Nistelrooy picked up the ball 30 yards out with his back to goal, though Tomas Ujfalusi allowed him too much space to turn, and Leo Franco was beaten at his near post with a well struck snap-shot.

The hosts were stunned, and were almost two down minutes later when Wesley Sneijder rattled the crossbar with a right foot drive from the left channel.

Sergio Aguero was the man who posed Real's sturdy defence the most problems, and he almost picked out Diego Forlan at the back post with a superb ball from the right wing, though the Uruguayan found himself narrowly ahead of the play at the vital moment.

Midway through the half things went from bad to worse for Atletico as Luis Perea was rightly sent off for elbowing Sneijder in the face, though matters were evened up just six minutes later as Van Nistlerooy was sent on his way - slightly more controversially - for a late challenge on Maniche.

Real enjoyed long spells of possession after the break, and almost went two up as Higuain saw a gorgeous volley on the turn saved by Leo Franco, though Aguero's persistent pressing and direct running ensured Atletico always looked a threat on the break.

First he set up Maniche, who sent a rasping volley straight into the hands of Iker Casillas, before Diego Forlan forced the 'keeper to tip a well struck low shot round the near post.

As the clock ticked down so Atletico committed ever greater numbers forward in search of the equaliser, and though they never genuinely tested Casillas from open play, Simao provided their equaliser with his right foot from a free-kick 25 yards out.

Six minutes of stoppage time - which made up for the time the referee spent having his injured calf treated - meant both sides had the chance to press for a winner, and it was Real that took it, with Higuain tucking his penalty into the bottom left hand corner with virtually the last kick of the game. Credit to Drenthe for his persistence and trickery, though it will be a sleepless night for the hapless Heitinga.

Espanyol 0-0 Villarreal

Espanyol shared a goalless draw with Villarreal in the other La Liga match of the evening.

Espanyol had the best to chance to take all three points when Raul Tamudo won a second-half penalty, but Diego Lopez guessed right to save, and maintain Villarreal's unbeaten start to the campaign.

MF / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 11 of 11

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  1. as far as i'm concerned all those people who say­ real played poorly either've seen some arab teems­ playing like real alhabamadrid and atletico al­ ithialmadrid or they just like trash talking this team­ because barca hasn't won anything in two­ years.....for all these people i've got just one­ thing to say...please watch the games first and only­ then start making opinions...besides the first game of­ the season which they lost, real have played­ spectecularly and efficiently (not to mention at least­ one of the goasl they did't get last night)...

    From Bandi, on Sun 19 Oct 8:52AM

  2. I totally agree with booquack, the writer of the artice­ didnt watch d match as he didnt even care to mention­ the 2 'perffectly OK Real Madrid Goals' which­ were
    disallowed

    From div_freek, on Sun 19 Oct 6:21AM

  3. Fantastic match, better than any match played in the­ Premiership today!I thought that Real could count­ thewmselves a little fortunate to get all 3 points, but­ thats what the great teams do, they grind out all 3­ points even when they don't deserve it!

    From MichealS, on Sun 19 Oct 2:11AM

  4. It was an interesting match, but I must say Madrid got­ away luckily with the three points, they have to step­ up their game if they must defend the league this­ season, because alot of hot teams have their dragon eye­ on the trophy e.g Barcelona, they have been playing­ more nice and looks totally dangerous in front of goal,­ but first lets give honour to whom its due for now, UP­ REAL MADRID.

    From tonyslarsh, on Sun 19 Oct 12:25AM

  5. It was an interesting match, but I must say Madrid got­ away luckily with the three points, they have to step­ up their game if they must defend the league this­ season, because alot of hot teams have their dragon eye­ on the trophy e.g Barcelona, they have been playing­ more nice and looks totally dangerous in front of goal,­ but first lets give honour to whom its due for now, UP­ REAL MADRID.

    From tonyslarsh, on Sun 19 Oct 12:25AM

  6. this was a great game and REAL are THE BEST !!!

    From daniel_filipovski, on Sat 18 Oct 11:39PM

  7. yeh wonderful report,im sure he paid attention

    From Omar, on Sat 18 Oct 10:12PM

  8. I think that you should employ booquack or someone that­ actually watches the matches

    From Humberto, on Sat 18 Oct 10:11PM

  9. Pathetic article. Did the author watch the match? If­ not then the person recounting the game to the author­ is blind. Van der Vaart penalty? WHAT? El Pipita­ Higuain!!! Simao's prodigious left foot? WHAT?­ Rubbish right footed free kick through the poor wall.­ Madrid third in the table level on points with Sevilla?­ WHAT? Madrid are second with 16 points, considering­ Villareal are currently drawing and have 17 points.­ Sevilla have 14 points. More than generous six minutes­ of stoppage time? Again, What? The ref was out for 3-4­ mins, there were 6 substitutions, 30 secs per­ substitution is 3 minutes, so 6 minutes was pretty much­ perfect. How is it possible to get everything wrong? It­ takes 3 clicks to get the info you need. Im surprised­ they didnt attribute the first goal to Mijatovic. It­ should be an embarrasing and sleepless night for the­ author of this article. Try covering curling.

    From booquack, on Sat 18 Oct 9:49PM

  10. well said my friend....

    From Sunil B, on Sat 18 Oct 9:35PM

  11. Great report, considering that it was Higuain who­ scored the penalty, not Van Der Vaart

    From randy w, on Sat 18 Oct 9:22PM
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