The eighth time is the charm for Real Madrid. Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez scored the game’s only goal, and Real Madrid defeated Atletico Madrid 1-0 on Wednesday to advance to the UEFA Champions League semifinals.
It was Real Madrid’s first time defeating their Madrid Derby rivals in nearly a year as the last time Los Blancos claimed the victory against the Atleti was in the Champions League final last season.
Atletico Madrid was undefeated against Real in their previous seven matches, and was close to making it eight consecutive if it wasn’t for Chicharito’s 88th minute strike from the center of the box.
Real Madrid was the more dominant team throughout the match, controlling possession 65 percent of the time and attempting nearly four times the amount of shots as Atletico.
For the second game in a row, Atleti goalkeeper, Jan Oblak was outstanding. Oblak made seven incredible saves throughout the match, but it was the one that got away that everyone will remember.
The game turned in the 76th minute when Arda Turan picked up his second yellow card on a silly foul on Sergio Ramos. Turan was ejected from the match despite the protests of the red and white stripes, and Atletico was forced to play with a man down the rest of the way.
The man advantage was the break Real Madrid was looking for as Cristiano Ronaldo charged into the right hand side of the box at breakneck speed demanding all the attention from three Atletico Madrid defenders and Oblak before passing to Chicharito in the center of the box before he fell to the ground.
Chicharito simply needed to get a nice touch on the ball to slip it into the wide open and give Real Madrid the go ahead goal they so desperately needed to send them through. It was Chicharito’s first Champions League goal in 895 days when he last scored for Manchester United in 2012.
Real Madrid will move on to play either La Liga rival FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Juventus who advanced to the semifinals with a simultaneous scoreless draw against AS Monaco in France move through 1-0 on aggregate.
Game Notes:
Gareth Bale (calf), Marcelo (suspension) and Luka Modric (knee) did not play for Real Madrid.
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