Diego Simeone should be happy with his team sixth straight season of not losing against their rivals Real Madrid at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, but reverse is the case as the Argentine manager was not happy with the match result claiming the match officials robbed them of a clear penalty in the game.
With the introduction of VAR in this season’s Laliga Santander the referee didn’t even turn to the VAR officials to ask if a penalty should be awarded when the ball hit Sergio Ramos arm in his own penalty box.
The Rojiblancos believes his side should have won the game if the officials were fair enough to give them the penalty and also referring to the same situation against Barcelona last season when Samuel Umtiti handled the ball in the penalty area.
"What do you want me to tell you?" he pondered after the match.
"You can make mistakes, and everyone is wrong. I guess they didn't stop to watch the play, because they saw a normal play, because this is interpretable.
"Last year with [Samuel] Umtiti the same thing happened, they said it was involuntary, but what do you want me to say, the ball went towards goal."
Diego Simeone acknowledged that the game was difficult, but believes his side should have taken a first half lead.
"It is always hard when we come here," he added. "We deserved to go ahead in the first half, we played great football and their goalkeeper had a great performance.
"In the second half they grew, and we had to suffer more."
He was then pressed to compare his side with Real Madrid, which he refused to do, playing down his side's expectations as ever.
"We do not compare ourselves to Madrid or Barcelona. "We compare ourselves to the best Atletico Madrid’s in history, which is a team that we can become."
The game was down to the brilliance of both team’s shotstopper as Thibaut Courtois and Jan Oblak turn to be the points saver for both Madrid sides.
Thibaut Courtois and Jan Oblak were the main reason the game ended in stalemate in a Madrid derby that was filled with fabulous display except the goals.
Real Madrid came out of the blocks like a team possessed, and it was nearly a minute and a half into the game before an Atletico player touched the ball, and it was their keeper Jan Oblak.
A super passage of play from the visitors saw the first shot on goal inside three minutes as Saul stung the fingers of Thibaut Courtois. Antoine Griezmann then tried his luck with an ambitious overhead kick as Real Madrid found it hard to contain Atletico’s slick passing game.
The action was end to end and spaces appeared as early as the seventh minute for either side to exploit.
On 17 minutes, Griezmann was sent away by Koke, with no Real defender in sight, but he was unable to beat Courtois in a one-on-one as he came into goalscoring range.
Just like his colleague Griezmann earlier in the half, Diego Costa beat the offside trap set by Real’s high line as the clock ticked towards half-time, but once again Courtois was equal to the finish.
A mistake by Jan Oblak was nearly punished on 41 with no real danger at all. Marco Asensio had overhit a ball but raced towards Oblak to try and put him off.
With plenty of time, the Slovenian inexplicably played it straight to the Real forward, only to get lucky with the ricochet which fell straight back to him.
Bale was replaced by Dani Ceballos after sustaining an injury, and within two minutes of the restart he introduction of the ex-Real Betis midfielder helped the hosts to take control of the second period. However, it was now Atlético custodian Jan Oblak’s turn to shine between the sticks.
Atlético were particularly grateful to the Slovenian for keeping out Marco Asensio midway through the half, when Toni Kroos found the forward in shooting space inside the box; and for beating out Dani Carvajal’s fierce close-range drive with a quarter of an hour remaining.
Spanish La liga predictions
