Real Madrid wins the derby and the ticket to the Cup semifinals

MADRID, 26 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Real Madrid extended their state of grace after beating Atlético de Madrid (3-1) this Thursday in the match corresponding to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey, after coming back from Morata's initial goal with a great goal from Rodrygo that forced extra time and that Benzema and Vinicius completed in extra time where their rival was left with ten.

The cupbearer derby left Carlo Ancelotti's team as the winner, more effective and practical on the pitch to become strong at the end and dominate extra time against a mattress team that had its options and competed until the end. In fact, Diego Pablo Simeone's team dominated the scoring until the 80th minute, when the individual quality of Rodrygo Goes balanced the balance and took the game to extra time. There, the locals, more intense since the second half, came back with Karim Benzema's goal, shortly after Stefan Savic was sent off for two yellow cards by a narrow margin, and then endured the final visitors' push to sentence Vinicius, the sad protagonist in the previous

As in the round of 16 against Villarreal, the white team once again brought out their chaste and pride to overcome a clash that seemed lost and leave Atlético without their best chance of winning a trophy after their European elimination and their bad first round in La Liga Santander.

At the Santiago Bernabéu, which opened its doors for the first time after the break for the World Cup in Qatar, the duel began with some trial and error on the part of both teams. The first occasion fell on the side of the locals, somewhat more active at the beginning. Vinicius failed to finish off a good ball from Benzema inside the area after a counter shot by the Brazilian himself after a robbery in midfield.

Despite the good first few minutes at home, Atlético managed to shake little by little from that first madridista rush to strike on the first chance they had. Thus, Álvaro Morata finished off a great choral play that started with a filtered pass from Koke behind the defense, taking advantage of Nahuel Molina's unchecking.

Although Madrid had their reply shortly after with a free-kick by Toni Kroos that Militao did not connect between the three sticks, the rojiblanco defensive framework prevented the madridista momentum after the goal from finding more reward. In addition, Mendy was injured and Ancelotti rebuilt his team with the entry of Ceballos and the transfer to the left side of Camavinga.

That more direct football that the locals proposed at the end continued into the second half, where the pace and heart rate increased, to the benefit of Ancelotti's men. Thus, the European champion had the first chance with a cross shot from Nacho that Valverde, Vinicius and Benzema were about to touch in the last instance, but ended up going wide. The siege by the madridistas was constant, forcing Oblak to intervene on more than one occasion. Benzema ran into the Slovenian in the first one he had and Vinicius was slow to take advantage of the rebound.

Atlético, who had not yet said their last word, once again threatened Thibaut Courtois's goal with a counter by Griezmann that did not finish and then with a Chilean half from Witsel that narrowly went wide. However, when the rojiblancos were hovering around 0-2, the recently signed Rodrygo appeared to unleash the madness in the stands and sign the draw with a great individual play.

The Brazilian attacker pulled a spectacular play from the front of the area to get away from three rivals and beat the mattress goalkeeper. The extension seemed served, although Griezmann almost avoided it with a very clear chance that he sent out of it, although he seemed to be in an illegal position at the time of his shot.

With everything to be decided, Real Madrid took advantage of the euphoria to also dominate in extra time and bottle up an Atlético unable to react after the expulsion of Savic for a double yellow card, an action that angered the rojiblancos who considered that Ceballos should have seen it also in a set of the second half with 0-1. The joy finally took hold of the Bernabéu when Benzema completed the comeback with a low shot at the short post in the first part of extra time after a cross from Asensio and add his ninth goal in his last nine games as a starter.

From there, Simeone's men, despite their inferiority, went for the tie and managed to lock up their rival, who managed to hold on before decanting a match that came to an end with Vinicius's sentence after a diagonal with the He left the entire rojiblanca defense behind to return the Madrid team to the semifinals of the Cup four years later.

DATASHEET.

--RESULT: REAL MADRID, 3 - ATLÉTICO DE MADRID, 1 (0-1, at halftime, 1-1 at the end of regulation time).

--LINE-UPS.

REAL MADRID: Courtois; Nacho (Odriozola, min.114), Militao, Rüdiger, Mendy (Ceballos, min.44); Modric, Camavinga, Kroos (Asensio, min.74); Valverde (Rodrygo, min.69, Mario Martín, min.114), Benzema and Vinicius.

ATHLETIC MADRID: Oblak; Nahuel Molina, Savic, Mario Hermoso, Reinildo; Koke (Kondogbia, min.83), De Paul (Saúl, min.83), Lemar (Depay, min.74), Griezmann (Barrios, min.91); Correa (Carrasco, min.74) and Morata (Morata, min.63).

--GOALS.

0-1, minute 20. Morata.

1-1, minute 80. Rodrygo.

2-1, minute 104. Benzema.

3-1, minute 121. Vinicius.

--REFEREE: Soto Grado (C. Riojano). He admonished Ceballos (min.69) and Vinicius (min.97), by Real Madrid, and De Paul (min.44), Reinildo (min.54), Hermoso (min.62) and Koke (min.105 ) by Atlético de Madrid. He sent Savic off for a double yellow card in the 99th minute.

--Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.