Goals from Tiago Mendes, Saul, Antoine Griezmann and Mario Mandzukic earned Atletico Madrid a resounding 4-0 victory over Real Madrid in El Derbi Madrileno at the Vicente Calderon Stadium this afternoon.
The win sees Diego Simeone's side cut the gap to just four points between third and first place in La Liga, with Carlo Ancelotti's Real leading on 54 points at the summit of the Spanish top flight.
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After a fast start, Atletico were left shouting for a penalty when Arda Turan thought he had been nudged in the box by Real defender Fabio Coentrao, but the referee thought nothing of it.
The hosts backed up a promising entrance to the game with an opening goal in the 14th minute, and it came via Mendes who took a pop at goal before being rewarded thanks to some lacklustre keeping from Real stopper Iker Casillas.
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Carlo Ancelotti's men were left stunned in the 18th minute as they found themselves two goals down, when Saul pulled off an overhead kick to complete some neat attacking play from Guilherme Siqueira.
Real appeared to be on the ropes after 30 minutes as Antoine Griezmann found the back of the net, only for his effort to be incorrectly ruled out for offside, leaving Atleti to take a 2-0 advantage into the break.
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The French international returned again straight after the interval and he should have made it 3-0, but he fired straight into the arms of Casillas following more suspect Real defending.
The away side's misery was compounded in the 67th minute as Griezmann finally found a way onto the scoresheet with an adroit finish to guide home an original headed effort from the leaping Saul.
Mandzukic added the icing to the cake in the 89th minute when he flicked in from a Torres cross to leave the final score at 4-0 to the hosts.
Christopher Dodd
