MADRID — If you hadn’t known that Sunday’s match between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid was “El Derbi Madrileño” you still might’ve guessed something was up.
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A tense, chippy affair ended in a 2-1 win for Real Madrid, who stay perfect in LaLiga this season amid jeering for Vinicius Junior from Atletico’s fans.
Goals from Rodrygo and Federico Valverde put Real ahead early, and a goal from Atletico’s Mario Hermoso followed by a red card eight minutes later didn’t do much to help the hosts cause.
Here is ESPN’s Alex Kirkland with reaction and analysis from Madrid.
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Rapid Reaction
1. Rodrygo, Valverde and Vinicius are Madrid’s future
It’s happened fast, but this season already feels like the beginning of a new era at Real Madrid, with Rodrygo (21 years old), Vinicius Junior (22) and Fede Valverde (24) as this team’s new stars.
It’s a process that began during last year’s Champions League run and is now impossible to ignore. One or more of Rodrygo, Vinicius and Valverde have scored in each of Madrid’s last seven games — Rodrygo’s opener made it three league games scoring in a row for him — and together they sum up this fast, direct, clinical Madrid team.
Veterans like Luka Modric and Toni Kroos are still very much present — both were excellent against Atletico — and of course Karim Benzema will come back into the team when he returns from injury. But this was a night that was all about Madrid’s vibrant, irrepressible front three.
After a positive start from Atletico, it was Rodrygo who opened the scoring, firing Aurelien Tchouameni’s floated pass beyond Jan Oblak, and when Vinicius’ low shot hit the post and rebounded across goal, Valverde was there to make it 2-0 and effectively end the contest, despite Atletico’s late fightback. Amid all the noise of a frantic Madrid derby, those two moments of quality made the difference.
