Diego Simeone applauded Real Madrid‘s counter-attacking approach in Sunday’s derby triumph against Atletico Madrid, saying it did remind him of his own sides, which had been criticized for being too defensive. In the opening half, Rodrygo and Federico Valverde scored to put Madrid in command at the Metropolitano stadium. As Madrid obtained six wins in a row in LaLiga, Mario Hermoso scored a late consolation goal before getting sent off in extra time. Atletico’s setback dropped them to the seventh position in the rankings, eight points behind leaders Real Madrid. “Madrid has a pretty excellent, direct style,” Simeone stated after the encounter.
Rodrygo Goes, the Real Madrid forward, has proven his worth in recent months. Not only did he score critical goals for the club against Manchester City, but he also scored Madrid’s first goal in the Derby versus Atletico de Madrid, which was a huge game. Rodrygo spoke to the press after the game and discussed his performance. Rodrygo was picked to cover Karim Benzema while the Frenchman remained injured. The Brazilian attacker discussed how he plans to meet the challenge. “It’s hard to replace Karim, but I try and do quite well.” It’s a different role for me because I don’t play like Karim. “I play differently, and we’ve adjusted our game,” he explained.
Following the week’s interview about Vinicius’ dances and trickery, as well as Koke’s statements leading up to the match, there was a lot of pre-match debate. In addition to Koke’s remarks, the head of the Spanish football player agency came out on El Chiringuito and racially attacked Vinicius. The very same racial abuse had been witnessed by certain parts of the Atletico Madrid supporters both before and during the game. Despite the attack of inappropriate words and images, Vinicius was crucial in the first half, and as Ancelotti said, “his skill generated the second goal.” Real Madrid won a hard-fought but well-deserved victory.
The president of the Spanish football agents organisation, Pedro Bravo, provoked outrage on Thursday when he suggested on television that Vinicius should quit ‘acting the monkey’ while celebrating goals. The statements sparked criticism, notably from prominent Brazilian football figures who called the remark racist. Bravo made an apology, stating he used a word that did not even have racist connotations. In Spain, the term is widely used to indicate ‘playing the fool.’ Vinicius and Real Madrid both issued comments earlier this week criticizing racism thrown towards the forward.
In the other LaLiga match, Sevilla was held 1-1 by Villarreal, putting the team in the relegation zone, thus placing more pressure on coach Julen Lopetegui. It was Sevilla’s seventh defeat in eight games in all competitions. After six league games, it was only one point above the relegation zone.
