Real Madrid emerged the victors after a pulsating 3-2 win over city rivals Atl\u00e9tico Madrid in the Derbi Madrile\u00f1o at the Bernab\u00e9u on Sunday night. Ademola Lookman put the visitors ahead before Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior scored a penalty to equalise early in the second half, with Fede Valverde then pouncing to score a second only minutes later. Nahuel Molina then scored from distance to level the scoreline against, but Vini was at his best to score the winning goal from the edge of the box, with the team ending the game with 10 men after Valverde was sent off.<\/p>\n
1. Which team would miss their goalkeeper more?<\/p>\n
The odds on Andriy Lunin and Juan Musso starting this game in goal would have been very long even only a few weeks ago, but that was the case at the Bernab\u00e9u on Sunday night. Atl\u00e9tico coach Diego Simeone was posed the question in his pre-match press conference and responded, \u201cthe fans, because two great goalkeepers are out\u201d. Despite the five goals scored on the night, neither goalkeeper will feel that their alternatives would have been able to do a better job. For Lunin in particular, Ademola Lookman\u2019s goal from close range left him with no chance while Nahuel Molina\u2019s rocket from outside the box was unstoppable. To put the icing on the cake, the Ukrainian ended the night with the captain\u2019s armband on for the first time in his career. With Dani Carvajal subbed off, Fede Valverde sent off and Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior also heading off, Lunin was the longest-serving player remaining on the field and so donned the armband in the absence of the team\u2019s designated captains, as tradition dictates.<\/p>\n
2. Would Real Madrid change a poor run in league derbies?<\/p>\n
This was Real Madrid\u2019s first derby win in La Liga since September 2022, four years and six meetings ago. The Colchoneros won two, in September 2025 and September 2023, with four draws. This was in fact the first derby win at the Bernab\u00e9u in league competition since December 2021, when Marco Asensio and Karim Benzema scored in a 2-0 win. This was \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa\u2019s first derby since arriving at the club and he secured the three points against the side he supported as a boy, showing the same kind of passion that famously saw him clash with his former Liverpool team-mate Fernando Torres when in charge of Castilla against Atleti B. In doing so, he avoided an Atl\u00e9tico double which would have been only the second this century after Diego Simeone\u2019s side achieved it in 2014\/15 for only the fourth time in history.<\/p>\n
3. Why didn\u2019t Trent Alexander-Arnold start?<\/p>\n
MARCA claimed that Trent Alexander-Arnold was dropped after being late to training this week, with \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa opting for a strict policy on timekeeping. Post-match, Arbeloa would not be drawn on the matter, simply insisting that he picked his best available side, but his answers did little to deny the claims either. It would seem the only logical explanation given that Trent has played well in recent weeks, showed no sign of injury, played 26 minutes without any complications, and will not be joining England for the international break after Thomas Tuchel left the right-back out of his squad.<\/p>\n
1. Is Dani Carvajal no longer good enough?<\/p>\n
This was only Dani Carvajal\u2019s third start since returning from injury, with one of the previous two ending in the shock defeat to Osasuna, while the other was his only 90 minutes since September in the routine win over Elche. He lasted just 64 minutes, but looked to be below par when on the field. The pace and trickery of Ademola Lookman got the better of him, failing to win either of his duels and being dribbled past once, and he looked out of shape compared to many of the others on the field. At 34 and after serious injuries in the last 18 months, that is to be expected. This was the first time Carvajal has played more than a cameo off the bench against an elite rival since the 5-2 loss in the Madrid derby in September, and before that it was when he was sent off against Marseille in the Champions League. With Trent having arrived as a clear replacement, and with the likes of Fede Valverde and Ra\u00fal Asencio having shown they can cover the position, there is a real debate to be had over whether Carvajal\u2019s contract should be extended beyond this summer, or whether his 13-year stay at the Bernab\u00e9u should come to an end.<\/p>\n
2. Has Vini replaced Mbapp\u00e9 as this team\u2019s leader?<\/p>\n
With Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 clearly still not fully fit, this was a golden opportunity for Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior to continue his fine recent form at the highest level and he did just that. Converting his second consecutive penalty, he then grabbed the winner with an intelligent run and pinpoint finish. \u201cAnother display of talent, of courage, of fearlessness, of making mistakes and trying again, as I always say, we\u2019re incredibly lucky to have him for his commitment, his talent, his desire to drive the team forward,\u201d Arbeloa said post-match. That\u2019s how a coach describes the leader of his side and one who takes games by the scruff of their neck and turns them on their head, just as Vin\u00edcius did almost single-handedly here. The Brazilian is enjoying his best form in at least two years, and may now rue the international break arriving at this moment in time. Afterwards, Arbeloa may have to find a way to balance Vini\u2019s protagonism with the return of Mbapp\u00e9.<\/p>\n
3. When will Fede Valverde return?<\/p>\n
There was plenty of debate about several refereeing decisions from Jos\u00e9 Luis Munuera Montero, but none more so than the red card shown to Fede Valverde for a challenge on \u00c1lex Baena. Valverde became the first Real Madrid player to be sent off in a La Liga derby against Atl\u00e9tico Madrid since Clos G\u00f3mez sent off Sergio Ramos 17 years ago, as the last six red cards in La Liga matches between Atl\u00e9tico and Real Madrid had all been shown to Atl\u00e9tico players. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t playing the ball,\u201d the referee explained to Arbeloa on the touchline. Valverde will now miss the away trip to Real Mallorca after the international break and will return in time for the fixture against Girona at the Bernab\u00e9u sandwiched between the two Champions League meetings with Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Real Madrid emerged the victors after a pulsating 3-2 win over city rivals Atl\u00e9tico Madrid in the Derbi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,49440,561,82],"class_list":["post-554518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-real-madrid-cf-la-liga","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}