This was not a Madrid Derby to remember. Players like João Félix, Eden Hazard and Kieran Trippier received their first taste of the capital-city clasico, but none were able to make much of an imprint in a 0-0 draw between Real and Atlético Madrid on Saturday at the Wanda.
Atleti keeper Jan Oblak was probably the best player on the pitch, making a couple great saves on Toni Kroos and Karim Benzema. But Real Madrid’s offensive forays were summed up most appropriately by an effort from Gareth Bale in the 57th minute.
Real Madrid took 14 shots at Oblak’s goal, 11 of which were off target. None were quite as bad as this Bale miss despite being set up wonderfully by Nacho.
Bale could’ve done better there, great pass by Nacho though pic.twitter.com/JBjPb03tDM
— Rey (@ReyLaMadrid) September 28, 2019
I think Bale’s shot may still be traveling as I write this; it may in fact have the necessary speed and trajectory to reach escape velocity and fly off toward the stars. Clearly Bale's work on his golf game has helped hone his finishing on the pitch. With finishing like that, it’s no surprise Real Madrid couldn’t find the back of the net.
For some reason, beIN SPORTS’ Ford Man of the Match was Kroos, whose most notable contribution was a blistering first-time shot that Oblak saved expertly. Fortunately, Oblak was named the Budweiser King of the Match, which is apparently a different thing so beIN can get more sponsors into the broadcast. This save on Benzema ensured the teams shared a point, with both finishing the week ahead of Barcelona in the LaLiga standings.
But at least Benzema got a shot on target. Hazard failed to bring much to the Real attack before being replaced by James Rodriguez in the 77th minute.
As for Félix and Trippier, both had chances to make an impact but came up short. Félix was welcomed to the Madrid Derby by a crunching tackle early on from Sergio Ramos, who pulled out his now iconic “get up” arm motion to the young Portuguese before he even hit the ground.
Welcome to the Madrid derby, Joao Felix. pic.twitter.com/LtMMUWeYFz
— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 28, 2019
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