Gareth Bale's long-awaited Real Madrid home debut ended
in disappointment as Atletico Madrid beat Los Blancos 1-0 to register their
first league victory over Real for 14 years on Saturday.
Bale started on the bench and had to watch on as Koke
played in Diego Costa to slot Atletico into an 11th minute lead.
The Welshman was then called upon by Carlo Ancelotti at
half-time to turn things in Real's favour, but he wasn't able to impact the
game greatly as Atletico maintained their 100 per cent start to the campaign.
They have 21 points from seven games and are second on
goal difference behind Barcelona who also have seven wins from seven after
clinching a 2-0 win at Almeria.
After a cagey opening ten minutes, the Madrid derby burst
into life when Koke played Costa in behind the home defence and the Brazilian
slotted home his eighth goal in seven league games. Even the goal though
couldn't shake Real out of their early malaise and it took until the 20th
minute for Thibaut Courtois to be forced into a save as he palmed Karim
Benzema's flicked header behind.
The France striker had a much clearer headed opportunity
from another Angel di Maria pass six minutes later but this time failed to even
find the target. And it was Atletico who should have doubled their tally before
half-time on more than one occasion.
Firstly, Tiago squandered a glorious chance as he headed
over when completely unmarked from Koke's header before Diego Lopez made a fine
save to deny Gabi and then Costa just couldn't bundle home the rebound as Real
struggled to cope with another corner.
Ancelotti reacted to his side's flat first-half display
at half-time as he introduced both Bale and Luka Modric with Asier Illarramendi
and Di Maria making way. However, Lopez again had to keep Real in the game with
an excellent low block as Costa raced clear on goal 15 minutes into the second
period.
Bale forced Courtois into his first stop after the break
with a low drive which the Belgian handled confidently. Cristiano Ronaldo then
fired a free-kick wastefully over the bar and saw another effort from distance
spilled by Courtois.
Koke was desperately unlucky not to seal the three points
for Atletico ten minutes from time when his curling effort from the edge of the
area came back off the crossbar. And Courtois had to come to Atletico's rescue
moments later to beat away Alvaro Morata's acrobatic effort.
Morata also fired into the side netting from a narrow
angle as the game entered stoppage time but Atletico held on to register their
best ever league start.
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