Just a minute away from beating its city rival for the second time in less than a month and taking a four-point lead of the Spanish league, Real Madrid couldn’t hang on.
Madrid’s improvised defense faltered at the end, and Atletico Madrid scored a stoppage-time equalizer in a 1-1 draw on Sunday.
Marcos Llorente scored with a header three minutes into added time after Brahim Díaz had put the hosts ahead in the first half at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
The late goal prevented Madrid from exploiting second-place Girona’s 0-0 draw with Real Sociedad on Saturday. Madrid leads Girona by two points before the teams meet next week.
“We played a very good match, we were in control,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “We were unlucky to concede that goal in the end, but we lacked height in the defense and we knew it.”
Ancelotti had a depleted defense because of injuries and had to improvise right back Dani Carvajal as a central defender alongside Nacho Fernández.
The duo couldn’t cope with a cross into the area with a minute to go, and Memphis Depay headed the ball toward the goal and Llorente came in to score the equalizer, with the ball hitting the crossbar before going in.
“We worked hard the entire match and in the end we got rewarded,” Llorente said. “We gained a point and kept them from getting more points. Considering the way things were going, it’s a very valuable point for us.”
Atletico, which had won four games in a row in all competitions, stayed in fourth place, 10 points off the lead. Diego Simeone’s team was two points behind Barcelona, which won 3-1 at Alaves on Saturday.
“The team could’ve given up, but it kept fighting until the end and deserved the draw,” Simeone said.
Madrid extended its unbeaten streak to 26 matches across all tournaments, since a 3-1 league defeat at Atletico in September.
It was the third Madrid derby in less than a month, with Madrid winning the Spanish Super Cup semifinal in Saudi Arabia and Atletico winning in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey.
Díaz, a late addition to the starting lineup after a minor injury to Vinícius Júnior during the pregame warmup, opened the scoring from close range in the 20th minute after Atletico midfielder Koke Resurrección failed to fully clear a ball in front of the goal.
Atletico thought it had equalized with a header by Stefan Savic in the 48th but VAR determined that there was offside by Saúl Ñíguez.
Elsewhere, eighth-place Real Betis couldn’t manage more than a 1-1 draw against 10th-place Getafe at home.
Both goals came from penalty kicks, with Mason Greenwood putting Getafe ahead in the eighth minute and Isco equalizing in the 35th.
Celta Vigo ended a three-game winless streak and moved further away from the relegation zone by beating Osasuna 3-0.
Jorgen Strand Larsen and Luca de la Torre scored goals one minute apart in the first half and Anastasios Douvikas sealed the victory in the second half.
It was only the second away win in the league for Celta, with the other coming at last-place Almeria in September.
The victory moved Rafa Benítez’s team to 16th place, three points clear of the relegation zone.
Osasuna, now winless in three straight league matches, stayed in 12th place.
