24th September, 2023
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Alvaro Morata scored a brace as Atletico Madrid thrashed Real Madrid 3-1 in a local derby to deny Real top of the La Liga table.
Morata opened the scoring in just four minutes into the match. He ran onto a clever lofted pass from Samuel Lino and easily beat the keeper with a header into the bottom right corner from close range.
Antoine Griezmann added Atletico’s second goal on 18 minutes. He bravely launched himself at a cross from Saul Niguez and gave Kepa Arrizabalaga no chance with a close-range bullet header into the bottom right corner.
Madrid reduced the tally on 35 minutes. The ball rebounded and arrived at the feet of Toni Kroos just outside the box. He fired a brilliant shot into the bottom left corner.
Luka Modric, on 40 minutes was the first to reach a rebound, but his shot was blocked.
Madrid appeared to have equalised on 44 minutes, but the goal scored by Eduardo Camavinga was ruled offside.
A minute after the start of the second half, Atletico made it 3-1. A nice lofted pass into the box by Saul Niguez was pounced on by Morata. His close-range header flashed past Kepa Arrizabalaga and into the right of the goal.
On 65 minutes, Aurelien Tchouameni picked the ball up and fired a projectile of a shot from long range which threatened the goalkeeper. The shot went painfully close to the left post.
On 12 minutes to duration, Brahim Diaz burst into the box after a fine solo run. He looked up and tried to place a shot into the roof of the net, but Jan Oblak made a great save to deny him his moment of glory.