La Liga 2018/19: Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid

This analysis for the Madrid Derby originally featured on realmadridanalysis.com

In Europes footballing capital, two giants met on Saturday evening at one of the continents finest arenas as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid came face to face in the Madrid derby. After a real battle, neither team managed to find a breakthrough. Here, a tactical analysis will use statistics to identify just why Real Madrid were unable to get revenge for the UEFA Super Cup defeat which humiliated them in August, playing out a hard-fought 0-0 which kept the two teams occupying second and fourth places respectively.

Thibaut Courtois and Jan Oblak saved Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid

Opportunities to shine since joining Real Madrid have been fairly limited for Thibaut Courtois, progressing through routine wins and then facing a bombardment where woeful defending left him hopelessly exposed. Against Atletico Madrid though, he was the hero. In the 18th minute, he superbly denied Antoine Griezmann after he broke through the lines, getting his hand to the ball as he rushed out and denied the Frenchman when he really should have converted. Not long later, he did the same in a similar scenario with Diego Costa. In total, xG would dictate that he should have conceded 1.24 goals, instead, he kept his second clean sheet since joining the club.

At the other end, Jan Oblak kept Los Blancos out too. The six saves he made were the most he has made all season, only matched by the UEFA Super Cup meeting with Real Madrid in Estonia. The smartest stop of the lot was to deny Marco Asensio at close range in the second half, spreading himself out to make amends for a first half error where a misplaced pass rebounded off of the Spanish international and only narrowly went wide of the post.

It was most certainly a tale of the two goalkeepers, with both being called upon with both their hands and their feet. Another, perhaps more basic but equally impressive statistic, lies in that Courtois is still yet to misplace a short pass in a Real Madrid shirt. The battle between Courtois and Navas is ongoing, but more than ever, Courtois is winning.

Julen Lopetegui’s substitutions continue to confuse

If the decision to replace Gareth Bale with Dani Ceballos was a cautious one, then the later call to replace Luka Modric with Lucas Vazquez was inconceivable. The move set Real Madrid up in a 4-4-2 with just eight minutes left on the clock, though in reality, it seemed that none of the men in midfield were comfortable in their new roles. Playing in a very narrow set-up, Vazquez was playing in a more central and deeper role than he is used to, whilst Toni Kroos and Casemiro formed a loose double pivot with Ceballos looking uncomfortable on the left flank.

That led