Real Madrid’s Javier Hernández breaks Atlético resistance at the last
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Version 0 of 1. Madrid’s derby may have been Atlético’s this season, but Europe still belongs to Real. Atlético were down to 10 men, exhausted, and willing the clock to run down, hoping for extra time and penalties, when Cristiano Ronaldo burst up the right and fed Javier Hernández to score the goal that sent the European champions through to the semi-finals. They had finally beaten their city rivals – for the first time since they met in last year’s final. There had been seven derbies since then, but eight was the number. As Hernández put the ball in the back of the net, the scoreboard read 88 minutes. At last, Real had beaten Atlético and at last they had found a way through, without four of their usual starters, too. Over 180 minutes, one goal had been enough and Real had got it. They had searched for it for much of this game, far more than Atlético had, but had not always been sure of finding it. Yet Carlo Ancelotti had preached patience and it proved a virtue. “We’re alive and when we’re alive we’re very dangerous. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,” Ancelotti smiled afterwards, adding: “I’m joking: I’m not a philosopher. But we can compete with anyone, no problem.” As for Diego Simeone, he was left expressing his “pride” in his team. “When I was a boy I was taught to compete and that if you go home having given everything you go happy even if you have lost. Lots of coaches would envy me having players who run for 90 minutes like my players do, despite the difficulties they faced,” he said. He suggested that the greatest difficulty of all was going down to 10 men. The Atlético manager described Arda Turan’s red card, when he was sent off having earned a second yellow card for a challenge on Sergio Ramos 15 minutes from time, as “decisive”. Perhaps. His claim that until then Atlético had the game “exactly where we wanted it,” was questionable: by the end, the shot count said much. Real 23, Atlético six, it ran. And if the visitors had largely contained Real they had created very little themselves, and Jan Oblak had made two key saves. What was true was that once Turan had walked, his team hoped only to hang on. In attack they had offered little, now they offered less. With all three changes made, legs heavy, and a man down, penalties seemed their only way through. They did not get the chance. Hernández did. Real had played without Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric and Marcelo, and it was the Mexican who sent them through in only his seventh start of the season. He has now scored six goals in less than 900 minutes. He had recently pleaded for an opportunity and here he got it. There had been good chances during this game that he could not take, but when the final one came he didn’t miss. “I am very pleased for him,” Ancelotti said. “He has suffered a lot this season, he has played very little, but he never gave up. He always trained very well and he deserved this goal. He played very well, with real desire.” Hernández had waited almost the entire game and so had his team. “They will be in no hurry to score … and nor will we,” Ancelotti had insisted before the game. And yet Real had gone in search of the goal from the start. For the first 15 minutes, Atlético barely touched the ball, the home side pushing them back. Hernández had the first chance but seemed to be looking for the pass not the shot. When no one called for it, he eventually went for goal only to smash the ball into the side-netting. “We were uncomfortable in the opening 10 minutes but I thought the game was more balanced after that,” Simeone said. What danger there had been, Simeone spotted, dropping Antoine Griezmann into left midfield and moving Saúl Ñíguez inside with Tiago Mendes and Koke, the balance tilting slightly, only to tilt back again. In the final minute of the half came a big moment for Ronaldo, blocked by Oblak. He’d had a good chance early on but genuine opportunities had been few. It was one thing having the ball, another creating much with it. Isco rarely appeared and Sergio Ramos looked uneasy drafted into an unfamiliar position to the right of Toni Kroos. Hernández looked the most likely to make something happen, his movement sharp and intelligent. Simeone replaced Ñíguez with Gabi at the break but the start of the second period threatened to resemble the start of the first. Isco threaded a clever pass inside for Hernández near the corner of the six-yard box. Oblak came towards him and the forward cut his shot, on the turn, beyond the keeper and wide of the far post. Soon after he seemed to be bundled over by João Miranda, but the referee, Felix Brych, ignored the shouts for a penalty. Again the pressure was Real’s, even if the need to score was theirs too. Ancelotti though reiterated afterwards that he had always wanted his team to play without haste. There would be no desperation. And if Real had not scored, Atlético looked even less likely to do so. Indeed, Griezmann’s withdrawal on 65 minutes was eloquent. It may also have been erroneous: there was now virtually no presence up front, no one to relieve the pressure. Atlético’s top scorer had been unable to influence the game at all but in his absence no one else did either; there was little in attack, bar one header for Koke. Chances were rare for Atlético and for Real too, even as the shot count rose. Then Real got a break. Turan lifted his foot to block Ramos’s clearance, studs showing. It was an unwise challenge, all the more so with one yellow already, and as Ramos followed through, feet met and out came the red card. “There is no point in me giving an opinion because the game’s over now and nothing I can say can change that,” Simeone said. Real now had a one-man advantage and again it was Hernández who had the chance to make that advantage count; again, his shot flashed past the far post, from the other side this time. There would, though, be one final opportunity when Ronaldo found him near the penalty spot. Atlético were exhausted; Mario Mandzukic could hardly run and Tiago had to depart. All the visitors could do was hang on. In the end, they could not. |