Diego Simeone ended his losing streak against José Mourinho in La Liga as Atletico Madrid beat 10-man Real Madrid at the Metropolitano.
Dean Huijsen‘s red card early in the second half proved costly for Real Madrid as Atlético Madrid claimed a 2-1 victory in Sunday’s derby.
The first Derbi Madrileno of the season in La Liga did not spark into life until after the break at the Metropolitano.
Indeed, the biggest moment of the first half was when Jude Bellingham received a yellow card following a challenge on Cristian Romero, but after a VAR review, referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias reversed his decision, instead booking the Atlético defender for a stamp.
Unfortunately for José Mourinho, in the biggest game of his second stint in charge of Los Blancos so far, when this encounter did pick up in intensity, his team were on the wrong end of it.
Having been caught out by Dávid Hancko’s searching pass, Huijsen dragged back Giuliano Simeone, who tumbled inside the area.
The referee pointed straight to the spot and booked Huijsen but, after consulting the pitchside monitor, the official upgraded the yellow card to a straight red for a last man professional foul.
Alejandro Grimaldo stepped up to take the spot-kick and duly made no mistake to put Atlético into a 53rd-minute lead.
Vinícius Júnior was surprisingly substituted off moments later, with Yan Diomande handed an opportunity down the left, but Madrid soon found themselves further behind.
Giuliano Simeone was involved again, drilling a cross from which Jonathan David turned home, with the Canadian international becoming the first Atlético player to score in his first three La Liga appearances for the club in the 21st century.
Much to Diego Simeone’s frustration, boos rang out from the home fans when Julián Alvarez replaced David soon after, but the Argentine might have turned those jeers into cheers if not for Ibrahima Konaté.
Alvarez saw an effort cleared off the line superbly by Konaté, after Thibaut Courtois had made a magnificent save to deny Romero.
Diomande would have made that reprieve count when he pounced on a defensive mix-up to take a strike at goal, but Jan Oblak made a fine save.
Antonio Rüdiger headed home from Bernardo Silva’s free-kick in the 89th minute to drag Madrid back into it, but Atlético survived a nervy finale.
Simeone Finally Gets the Better of Mourinho
During Mourinho’s first spell in charge of Madrid, he won all three of his derby clashes against Diego Simeone’s Atlético.
Indeed, Atlético’s coach only had a worse, 100% loss record in La Liga against former Barcelona boss Xavi (five games, five defeats) than he did against Mourinho before this contest.
But Mourinho’s hoodoo over the Argentine has now ended, and Diego Simeone, as he always does, kicked every ball and felt every tackle, and it was no surprise to see him charge down the tunnel in celebration at full-time.
Atlético ultimately had to grind it out, even against 10 men, albeit they wasted some chances to put the game to bed, even after Madrid had scored, with Alvarez choosing to shoot when he had team-mates better placed either side of him.
It was not a classic, as evidenced by a first half that featured just one attempt on target. In fact, it is the first time Atlético have failed to register a single shot on target in the first half of a home derby against Madrid in La Liga.
There was also the highest number of fouls committed by Atlético (10) in a first half against Los Blancos in the competition since April 2018 (11 on that occasion).
But Atlético, who registered chances worth only 0.19 expected goals before the break, flipped the script after the restart, finishing with 2.38 xG, 1.24 of which was from open-play opportunities.
Madrid, on the other hand, were limited to just 0.32 xG, which is their lowest total in a La Liga game since February 2015 (0.2, also vs Atlético).
Kylian Mbappé is just one goal or assist away from 500 goal involvements in club football, but he cut a frustrated figure up front, having just one shot, while Vinícius lost four of his seven duels prior to his substitution, as Mourinho’s star players failed to deliver.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Atlético Madrid vs Real Madrid stats from their La Liga meeting at Riyadh Air Metropolitano on Sunday 20 September 2026.
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