Chris Maduewesi
Member
Atletico Madrid have won the Spanish Super Cup after beating their arch-rivals,Real Madrid in the return leg of the tie.
It was a victory well fought for,with Atletico winning 1-0(2-1 on aggregate) to emerge the winner over two legs.
Coming into the game,pride was at stake and also the small matter of who will have the bragging rights in the city of Madrid.
Derbies between both clubs have been anything but friendly,with the acrimony extending both to the stands.
Real has the monetary firepower and have acquired some of the best legs in the world,but Atletico has been synonymous with building a team and have delivered in churning out great stars.
With the scores from the first leg standing at 1-1,it was a game that was still open for either of the teams to take.
However,it was the host team Atletico,who bursting out with intent in the opening few minutes of the match,got an else.
A long ball from the Atletico goalkeeper was knocked down for Mario Mandzukic who perfectly picked his spot t beat Iker Casillas for the goal.
It was the first goal that Mandzukic will be scoring for Atletico since he joined from Bayern Munich.
Without Cristaino Ronaldo starting in the game,Real lacked a bit of focus in attack and struggled to carve out a good opening to score an equalizer.
Atletico as has been their trademark,were dogged and went in hard for the ball,doing a good job in restricting their counterparts.
Tempers was already felt on the bench and the pacy Atletico manager Diego Simeone was sent to the stands by the referee.
For Madrid James Rodriguez impressed and asked questions of Atletico's defence,but Madrid needed him to be penetrate those walls and find a breakthrough.
Raul Garcia came very close to adding more goals with his header,but it went just wide.
And with the introduction of Ronaldo at the start of the second half,thus came hope. However it was false hopes as Ronaldo hardly sparkled in the match,maybe he shouldn't have been brought in.
Atletico had some good chances to double their lead but they failed to take those efforts.
With tension mounting in the game,tackles went flying and the referee made no hesitation reaching for his pocket.
Croatian midfielder Luka Modric got a red card for a second bookable offence late on in the game,and he was given his marching orders.
However it was already late then,and the whole Vincente Calderon stadium erupted in ecstasy when the referee sounded the final whistle.
Atletico have now started the season on a high,winning the Super Cup,after an exerting game with their city rivals.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia