Atletico Madrid maintained their winning start to the La Liga season by defeating Real Madrid away at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
In what was Gareth Bale’s home debut, coming on at half-time, the Los Blancos lost by a lone goal scored by Brazilian Diego Costa 11 minutes into the Madrid Derby. It was coach Carlo Ancelotti’s team’s first home loss since December 2011.
The Los Roji Blancos have now recorded seven straight victories in the start of the La Liga season and are levelled on points with league leaders Barcelona, while Madrid trail by five points.
Atletico striker Costa scored his seventh goal in eight games, slotting past goalkeeper Diego Lopez from Koke’s through ball.
Coach Diego Simeone’s side came close to extending the tally before the break through Costa and Tiago as Real struggled to open up space in their opponent’s defence.
Bale’s presence failed to impact on the score sheet as the Welshman still searches for his first league win in the Madrid club’s white colour. He has missed the last two games with a thigh injury since getting off to a goalscoring debut for the Madrid giant in the 2-2 draw with Villareal.
In a frenetic second-half, both sides came close to grabbing a goal with both Tiago and Koke hitting the woodwork for the visitors and an Alvaro Morata acrobatic volley from 12-yards out saved by Thibault Courtois in goal for Atletico.
