After an hour of complete boredom of the game, the worst image of the derby and for the League occurred in the match with the greatest international projection of the day. All fears had focused on what could happen to Vinicius at the Metropolitano, but the fire ignited on the other side, in Thibaut Courtois’s territory. Militão made it 0-1 and everything got muddy to the point that the match had to be temporarily suspended after the Madrid goalkeeper handed the referee two lighters thrown by the Atlético Front.
“The decision was the right one,” said Carlo Ancelotti. “The referee told us that he had stopped the game twice and that, if they shot again, he had to suspend it. He told us that we were going to go to the locker room for 10 minutes and then come back,” explained the Italian coach, who with respect to purely sporting matters commented that “a draw here could be a good point for the future,” and that his team is “in good shape.” dynamic” after “winning a point from the leader”.
After Vini, whistled by a significant part of the stadium every time he touched the ball – and by a large majority at times – it was already known that the goalkeeper appeared in second place on the ranking of red-and-white animosity. This Sunday, he ended up in the center of the amphitheater’s target, in addition to being injured in his left abductor and outplayed in stoppage time.
The Belgian belonged to Atlético between 2011 and 2014 on loan from Chelsea. He was, in fact, the colchonero goalkeeper in the 2014 Champions League final, the one with Sergio Ramos’ goal. So the amphitheater did not forgive him for his signing for Madrid in 2018. So much so that in the derby played at the athletic venue in February 2019, on his first visit as a merengue, his plaque in the stadium for having played more than a hundred meetings with the club was attacked and several rubber rats appeared. The goalkeeper himself remembers this episode in the documentary about his career that was released these days. “I understand that watching me play with my rival can hurt, but at some moments they went too far,” he says.
medical tests
At 10:42 p.m., when Courtois, who is undergoing medical tests this Monday for the muscle discomfort that ended the night, resumed the match with a long serve, the stands dedicated the old chant of “eeeh, bastard” to him. From then on, every time he touched the ball, whistles continued to be heard against a goalkeeper who ended up being pointed out by Diego Pablo Simeone as a provocateur in the celebration of the 0-1 scoreline. Koke also made it ugly.
The fears had been placed on what could happen to Vinicius, whose efforts—his own and those of others—to avoid falling into brawls were evident. That nothing happened in the game until 0-1 also helped to prolong the always tense calm. At half-time, he left, even joking with Griezmann. Militão’s goal came from a slight flick by the attacker. He forced a foul, the serve came to him, he crossed and the most unexpected person scored. There ended the long hour of stunted play by both and the report of events of a very eventful night began.
Courtois prevented the tie with two saves after the restart, but did not prevent Correa’s equalizer (with the collaboration of Militão) in stoppage time shortly after the Belgian showed signs of physical discomfort. It was the most intemperate outcome for the goalkeeper in a derby that ended with the local players applauding the stands from where the objects had fallen.