Atlético Madrid vs Real Madrid

Sunday 7th March 2021   La Liga

Atlético Madrid 1-1 Real Madrid

Suárez (15')             Benzema (88')

Benzema's late strike ensures stalemate with leaders Atletico Madrid who fail to capitalise on points at the top of La Liga.

Luiz Suarez opened the scoring early in the first half after a cool finish with the outside of the boot assisted by fellow attacker Llorente.

The 34-year-old Uruguayan has now scored 17 goals in the league this season compared to his 16 goals over the duration of last term for the Catalan club in La Liga.

While Marcos Llorente becomes the top assister in the league for the first time in his career with 8.

A ambigious decision against Atletico Madrid as Casemiro was close to a hand ball in the penalty area.

Both keepers were busy throughout the second half with Coutoius and Oblak decisively keeping out efforts from Benzema and Luiz Suarez again as both sides of Madrid link up nicely prior to their chances.

Karim Benzema netted crucially in the 88th minute after an Iniesta type skill from the Frenchman led to Casemiro providing the set up from a one-two.

Real Madrid seal a draw in the derby and the reigning champions take away their 4th point from the current leaders this season.

Atletico suffer their 4th draw in their last three La Liga contests and face Copa Del Rey finalists Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.

Real play Elche next before Champions League matchup against Atalanta.

Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone on the title race, "It's a long and difficult competition. I don't know what people expected, that we were going to win it by 20 points? We know it is going to be difficult."

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane said, "It's a point, we're alive and we're going to keep fighting. There's still a long way to go in La Liga and a lot of points at stake, we're going to fight until the end. Things can change quickly. We're doing the right things, although we know we can improve and that's what we're going to do."

Atletico are still ahead of their rivals but Real and Barcelona have closed the gap recently which could prevent them from clinching the La Liga title for the first time since 2014.