A contentious and exciting match between the two giants of Madrid saw the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal matchup end in a 0-0 tie.
The match may have ended as a scoreless draw, but it was anything but boring. Real Madrid threw everything but the kitchen sink at Atletico Madrid in an attempt to beat their local rival in the first leg of this Champions League quarterfinal tie, but Atleti stood strong against it all and gave back their fair share of danger as well.
The match was, predictably, very contentious affair that saw a lot of frustrated stars and chippy, aggressive fouls. Despite the 0-0 scoreline, the match was well worth watching and gave us a lot to think about until the second leg next week.
3 things
1. Drop Gareth Bale? Yeah right. - The Welsh winger has been under a storm of criticism from Real Madrid fans of late, feeling that their world-record signing simply isn't good enough for this Real side. It's certainly true that he hasn't been on his best form for much of this season, but he's still more than good enough to make an impact for Madrid, as evidenced by most of their best chances of the first half going through him. Dropping him would be insane, and while Carlo Ancelotti is many things, he is not insane.
2. Jan Oblak is really good - Not everyone was a big fan of Atletico signing the 22-year-old Slovenian goalkeeper to help replace Thibaut Courtois, and that's understandable. He's largely unproven, but cost Atleti a lot of money anyways because he's shown quite a lot of potential. While he hasn't gotten all that many chances to play this season, Oblak has definitely started to deliver on that potential when he has started in goal, and this match was an excellent example of it. He handled everything that Real threw at him with the calm ease of a 10-year veteran, making some very difficult saves just as smoothly as the easy ones. If he's this good now, we could be looking at one of the elite goalkeepers of the not-too-distant future.
3. Atletico still have Real's number - This was the seventh time these teams faced off this season, and every time the song has been the same. Real Madrid threw a whole garage's worth of tricks at Atleti, but they didn't care. The Rojiblancos have now won four times and drawn three others against Real this season, with the draws all favoring Atleti as they were positive results in two-legged ties. No matter what Real have tried to do to change the game and beat their cross-town rivals, Atleti have just shrugged and carried on doing their thing. Real are on the shortlist for "best team in the world," but under Diego Simeone, Atleti have consistently been a perfect foil for them, using their aggressive and in-your-face style to keep Real's stars off balance.
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1CGtXpF
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