real madrid 2012: November 2011 real madrid soccer

Real Madrid 4 - 1 Athletico Madrid Video

Jose Mourinho said the derby against Atletico would be difficult, aware of how the very nature of these games transform the teams that play them. Atletico's intention was to give the game a sort of stop-start nature, especially after Courtois was sent off. Eventually, after 45 minutes they couldn't keep this up any longer and Real Madrid turned the score around and showered them with goals.

Atletico positioned themselves well on the pitch and even tried to score on occasion, eventually netting their only strike of the evening when Adrian defeated Casillas while possibly being offside. Real Madrid reacted and Di Maria served a perfect pass to Benzema, who was tackled in the area by Courtois. Cristiano Ronaldo took the penalty and netted the equaliser.

Atletico decided to try to stop Real with fouls and this kept Mourinho's men from having clear chances on Asenjo's goal. Nevertheless, Benzema had a good one, but Dominguez only just managed to clear his shot.

The Whites truly worked on winning the clash after half-time. Cristiano Ronaldo crossed the ball into the box on the 48-minute mark and Di Maria finished it off beautifully. Atletico stayed close to their box trying to cover spaces as best they could, but in the 64th minute, Godin made a huge mistake in a clearance and Higuain, having just come on for Di Maria, snatched the ball from Asenjo and scored a third for the team.

Godin was sent off on the 82-minute mark, giving another penalty to Real that was again converted by Ronaldo, sealing the match 4-1 and giving the Madridistas a 13th straight win this season.

Real Madrid training for Athletico Madrid match (Photo Gallery)

Real Madrid finished preparing for today's 20:00 CET derby against Atletico Madrid at the Bernabeu. Jose Mourinho had 21 of his men on hand plus youth teamer Mejias. Arbeloa and Kaka did recovery exercises.

The 19 outfield players did ball work after tackling stretching and warm-up exercises. Marcelo, Di Maria and Carvalho were amongst them; they trained with their teammates yesterday after missing the match against Dinamo Zagreb due to injuries.

Goalkeepers Casillas, Adan and Mejias trained with goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro. They played a foot-volley game to work on controlling the ball with their feet and head. They then proceeded to do specific goalie exercises.

Nuri Sahin interview after Dinamo Zagreb Match

Nuri Sahin and Antonio Adan were starters against Dinamo Zagreb. Both shared their views on the match in the mixed zone.

Sahin
"It's an important day for me because I played 90 minutes for the first time in six months. We also scored many goals. I'm not 100% fit yet and I have to work hard to improve on my football. I admit I didn't play very well tonight. I need to play more. It's every kid's dream to play for Real Madrid, and it is for me too."