Real Madrid News

The Spaniard was pleased at extending Atletico’s barren run in the derby and their own advantage ahead of their city rivals, but is refusing to relax just yet

Real Madrid assistant coach Aitor Karanka praised his charges for securing a fundamental result with their 2-1 win against local rivals Atletico.

The direct competitors went head-to-head in a tussle for the domestic runners-up spot on Saturday, with los Blancos securing a decisive three points thanks to Angel Di Maria’s winner.

And with the Spanish champions stretching the gap from third place to six points on the night, Karanka was heartened by the team’s performance.

“We knew it would be a very tense match, also because Atletico have not beaten us for so long, so we played a derby for second place,” the 39-year-old told reporters after the match.

“The team played as a unit, fighting together with humility. We knew it would be an intense contest from the first minute. The whole team has done a spectacular job.

“We opted for [Sami] Khedira and Pepe today and they both had spectacular matches. We know our players and when we pick the starting XI, we know what we want to do.

“Still, we must continue doing our homework till the end of the league.”

Karanka is hopeful Madrid can transfer the enthusiasm from their win to the upcoming Champions League semi-final clash with Borussia Dortmund, in the hope of overturning a 4-1 deficit from the first leg.

“We knew that the best way to go into Tuesday’s match was by playing well tonight. That is what we’ll take away; the work and effort of everyone,” he added.

“For Real Madrid. every single match of the season is important. We have to enjoy what we can from this win and as from tomorrow we’ll think about Dortmund.”

The hero of the night dedicated his goal to his newborn child and believes the result serves as a springboard to a revival against Borussia Dortmund

Real Madrid winger Angel Di Maria says the 2-1 derby win over Atletico can be the catalyst for Champions League redemption against Borussia Dortmund.

The Spanish champions were humbled 4-1 by Jurgen Klopp’s men in the first leg of the semi-finals, but fired an immediate reply to their doubters by silencing the Vicente Calderon.

And Di Maria, who was excluded from the starting line-up to face the Germans on Wednesday owing to the birth of his daughter, believes the derby win can set them off on the right foot to turn the result around next week.

“Winning this match is extra motivation and will help us to be at our best on Tuesday,” the 25-year-old underlined to reporters. “We do not take that match as lost.

“The league, however, does not let up and we knew that if we lost they would draw level with us, so we did things as well as we could to get a decent gap between us and them so we can be calmer.

“The truth is I needed a goal to dedicate it to my wife and daughter and I managed to get it. We did everything right and the way we wanted tonight. The coach put out the team he thought would get the result.”

Starlets Nacho and Alvaro Morata echoed their team-mate’s opinion, with the former quick to declare: “Madrid is the best team in the world. The team is very confident and hopefully can go on to the final.”

Morata added: “Against Dortmund the team have to be united and the supporters also have to give all they can. We know the game will be dfficult, but we’ll try.”

Atletico Madrid’s 14 years of derby pain will continue for a few weeks more after they were defeated 2-1 at the Vicente Calderon by Real Madrid in their Liga clash on Saturday.

Los Colchoneros have not won a Madrid derby since 1999, but with both sides set to meet again on May 17 in the Copa del Rey final, they seemed well on their way to reversing that streak after Radamel Falcao’s fourth-minute opener.

But Juanfran’s own-goal nine minutes later granted Jose Mourinho’s men a route back into the game, and after a fierce contest with a number of bookings on either side, Angel Di Maria struck the game’s winner just after the hour mark with an expert finish.

The win puts Madrid six points ahead of Atletico in second place, and gives them a vital boost ahead of their monumental Champions League task against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday, with a 4-1 deficit to overcome.

Mourinho erred on the side of caution with his starting line-up, omitting Cristiano Ronaldo from the squad after a thigh complaint, while for Atletico, the game came too soon for Arda Turan and Tiago, with both midfielders finalising their recovery from injury.

With only four minutes on the clock, the home side were ahead. Diego Lopez could not smother a free-kick, and Diego Godin recovered the loose ball, clipping towards the far post for Falcao to head home.

And Atletico could have been 2-0 up before the 10th minute had Koke been a bit less selfish as he blasted into the side netting from a itght angle with team-mates queuing up in the box for the cross.

Madrid were struggling to gain a foothold in the game, but with 13 minutes gone, they drew level through no good work of their own. Di Maria’s free kick took an ungainly deflection off Juanfran, who could not stop the ball from bundling into the net.

Falcao nearly responded to put Atletico back in front minutes later, but after rising well to meet Koke’s devilish cross, he could not steer his header on target.

The match soon settled into the ferocious tempo befitting of a local derby, with tackles flying in left and right, forcing the referee into his pocket to fish out his yellow card no less than six times in the first half.

But minutes before the break, Madrid broke the Atletico ranks through Di Maria’s excellent run, allowing Karim Benzema to be slipped through, but his hesitancy gave Thibaut Courtois the split second he needed to nick the ball off the Frenchman’s toes.

The match restarted, and Diego Costa cracked a header off the crossbar, before Gabi inexplicably slotted wide with time to pick his spot as Atletico looked the more threatening side coming out of the break.

But just like the first half, Madrid found a goal despite appearing closer to conceding. Benzema spotted the darting run of Di Maria between the centre-backs, and played a neat pass to release the Argentine, who then slotted brilliantly into the far side.

Atletico responded as Costa’s run and cross was pushed away from danger by Lopez, before the Rojiblancos man was correctly denied a penalty for falling theatrically to the ground under pressure from Nacho.

Late on, Filipe was released by Adrian Lopez towards goal, but could only find the side netting when other options would have been better served, as time simply ran out in the Madrid derby for Atleti for the 14th year in a row.

   

The Poland international could miss the second leg of Borussia Dortmund’s Champions League semi-final against the Liga giants due to a groin injury

Borussia Dortmund full-back Lukasz Piszczek is a doubt for the Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid on Tuesday.

The Poland international featured from the start in BVB’s 4-1 win at Signal Iduna Park in the first leg, but was taken off after 83 minutes due to a groin strain.

The length of the 27-year-old’s layoff is still unknown, although he will miss Saturday’s clash with Fortuna Dusseldorf and coach Jurgen Klopp has conceded he is facing a fitness battle ahead of the trip to Spain next week.

“It’s even a race against time for Tuesday,” Klopp was quoted as saying on the official Dortmund website.

Tuesday’s return at Santiago Bernabeu is scheduled to kick off at 20:45CET.

The 21-year-old is eagerly anticipating Saturday evening’s Madrid derby and is determined to cap an impressive Liga campaign by finishing as runners-up this season

Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke is desperate to finish the 2012-13 campaign ahead of rivals Real Madrid and secure second place in La Liga.

The Vicente Calderon side are currently trailing the Champions League semi-finalists by three points and Atleti will be desperate to close the gap on Saturday evening when they host their arch-rivals.

“We’re only three points behind Madrid and hopefully we can finish second in the league,” Koke was quoted as saying by AS.

“We’ve done some tremendous work this season. Now we need to continue and not be satisfied with what we’ve done up to now. We need to finish even better than we are now.”

Atletico were beaten 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu earlier this term and have lost their last nine encounters against los Blancos, having failed to win the derby since 1999.