Atletico Madrid thrashed Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Thanks to Griezmann's goal in the 53rd minute, Atletico secured a 1-0 victory in the Madrid derby on the evening of February 27th.

Griezmann (right) became the hero with the decisive goal. Photo: Reuters

Visiting the Bernabeu for the 26th round of La Liga, Atletico not only showed no fear but also cleverly secured all three points. Just as Real were accelerating and preparing to dominate, Antoine Griezmann seized the opportunity to deliver a "cold shower" to their opponents at the beginning of the second half. Unable to close the narrow gap in the final 40 minutes, Real had to accept their first defeat under new coach Zinedine Zidane.

The defeat against Atletico could also dash Real's hopes of winning the 2015-2016 La Liga title. The team with the most titles is now nine points behind leaders Barca, having played one more game. The gap between Real and Atletico has also widened to four points after the match at the Bernabeu.

As predicted before the match, Real's young new coach Zidane was unable to surpass his counterpart Diego Simeone in terms of tactical shrewdness. Taking to the field with his preferred defensive formation, Simeone quickly succeeded in cooling down the attacking momentum of the trio Ronaldo, Benzema, and James Rodriguez. Even with Luka Modric playing at a high level in midfield, the quartet of Godin, Jimenez, Juanfran, and Filipe Luis had little difficulty preventing the team from scoring the most goals of the season. Spectators even had to wait until the 32nd minute to witness the first shot on target: Ronaldo's free-kick over the wall was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

While scoring opportunities were scarce, the first half was truly a time for both goalkeepers to shine. Besides his save against Ronaldo's free-kick, Oblak made several well-timed interventions to avert danger in the penalty area. Similarly, goalkeeper Keylor Navas provided absolute confidence to his teammates with two consecutive saves in the 40th and 41st minutes.

Unable to find a way past Atletico in the first half, coach Zidane began to instruct his players to attack more aggressively from the start of the second half. And this plan could have been a resounding success if Ronaldo hadn't missed a golden opportunity in the 48th minute. At that moment, after a well-placed through pass from Modric, CR7 raced down the wing, beat goalkeeper Oblak, but watched the ball go just wide of the post.

Ronaldo rarely gets good opportunities in front of Atletico's goal.

Real Madrid missed a chance early in the second half, but they may not have imagined it would turn out to be their best opportunity of the entire match. Three minutes later, Atletico launched a sharp counter-attack and scored the winning goal. From a breakaway in midfield, Antoine Griezmann played a one-two with Filipe Luis before unleashing a shot from just outside the penalty spot. The finish was so brilliant that a Real Madrid defender was right in front of him, and goalkeeper Navas, diving at full stretch, couldn't make the save.

The unexpected goal was like a "cold shower" for Real's attacking enthusiasm. From constantly besieging goalkeeper Oblak's goal, the home team quickly lost their morale. In the 66th minute, the score almost became 2-0 for Atletico if Navas hadn't rushed out to narrow the angle for Saul Niguez's shot.

With Real Madrid trailing, Ronaldo had two chances to redeem himself but was unlucky on both occasions. The striker unleashed two headers inside the penalty area, both of which went straight to goalkeeper Oblak. Failing to score in the Madrid derby, Ronaldo remains second in the top scorer race with 22 goals. Luis Suarez of Barcelona still leads with 25 goals.

Zidane doesn't have "enough tricks up his sleeve" to beat Simeone.

One significant reason contributing to Real's defeat may have been their squad. Playing against rivals Atletico, coach Zidane was unlucky not to be able to field Gareth Bale again. Striker Karim Benzema also wasn't in his best form after recovering from injury, even having to leave the field after the first half. Lacking suitable replacements, Zidane had to bring on two inexperienced players, Borja Moya and Lucas Vazquez, in the second half.

With Barcelona potentially extending their lead to 12 points after 26 rounds, Real Madrid is facing a rather unpleasant reality in the domestic league. This could also be the reason why Zidane is even more determined to focus his efforts on winning the Champions League.

According to VNE