Alvarez inspires 5-star Atletico to derby victory against Real Madrid

Atletico Madrid blew away Real Madrid, beating their eternal rivals 5-2 at packed Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

Atletico Madrid started in full force, and scored inside 15 minutes from a Robin Le Normand header, Los Blancos responded in kind, equalising and then going ahead through Kylian Mbappe and Arda Guler.

Alexander Sorloth ensured parity before half-time, and the second half was all Atleti, with a Julian Alvarez brace clinching the tie before Antoine Griezmannn added a cherry on top.

Real Madrid came into the fixture having won all of their matches, while Atletico had only managed two wins in six. However, Derbies often defy the form book, and Diego Simeone’s men wasted no time proving it.

 They pressed with relentless energy from the first whistle, unsettling a surprisingly shaky Real backline. Their aggression paid off inside 14 minutes when Robin Le Normand powered home a header from a Giuliano Simeone cross.

Real looked rattled and barely strung passes together in the opening exchanges, but their offensive quality means they rarely stay silent for long. Against the run of play, they struck back 

with clinical precision, Arda Güler threaded a superb pass into the inside-right channel, who buried it with a long. 

If that stunned the home crowd, what followed briefly silenced it. Güler turned scorer just minutes later, meeting Vinícius Júnior’s with a sharp half-volley to give Los Blancos an unlikely lead.

However, the hosts had no intention to roll over and into first-half stoppage time, captain Koke picked out Alexander Sørloth whose thumping header restored parity. 

 Within six minutes of the restart, Güler  conceded a penalty with a high boot on Nicolás González. Julián Álvarez stepped up and coolly dispatched the spot-kick despite Thibaut Courtois guessing correctly. The roar inside the Metropolitano only grew louder when Álvarez curled an unstoppable free-kick into the top corner to make it 4–2, leaving Real’s defence in tatters.

Antoine Griezmann came off the bench to close off the scoring, sending the ball past Courtois to help his team secure maximum points.