The Vicente Calderón did not want to go quietly. Atlético Madrid never do. Saúl Ñíguez headed in inside twelve minutes, Antoine Griezmann tucked away the penalty four minutes later, and for sixteen unhinged minutes, a stadium that had spent a long time specialising in Real Madrid’s nightmares looked ready to author one last, beautiful one. The aggregate was 3-2. Then Real Madrid did what Real Madrid used to do during the threepeat. They took the ball, and they took the air out of it.
Atlético’s two early goals came inside the opening sixteen minutes, and through that opening period both sides traded territory roughly evenly. From around the 20th minute onwards, though, Real Madrid’s cumulative final-third touches pulled clear and stayed clear — by Isco’s goal just before half-time, the gap was already substantial, and it widened through the second half until Madrid finished on roughly 260 to Atlético’s 190. The xT picture was closer: the cumulative gain lines ran almost on top of each other for the entire ninety, with Atlético edging ahead late to finish marginally higher. Atlético generated threat in bursts when they got forward. Madrid simply lived in the final third.
Karim Benzema racked up 45 touches in the final third, more than any other Madrid player and second only to Yannick Carrasco across the match. He completed seven take-ons, the third-most by any player on the pitch, and registered two key passes. He didn’t score but produced the most unforgettable moment from this game in the lead-up to Isco’s goal. You know the moment.
Isco led the match with 18 progressive carries, five clear of the next-best runner. He completed eight take-ons, second only to Modrić, and registered three key passes. He finished with 44 touches in the final third and 133 touches overall at 87.0% pass completion, the third-highest touch count in the game. His goal gave Real Madrid the safety net and a clear path to Cardiff.
Luka Modrić topped the match with 140 touches. He completed 93.3% of his passes, second only to Raphaël Varane, and 100% of his long balls — the only player on the pitch with a perfect long-ball record. He led the match with nine take-ons and added nine ball recoveries, the joint-third most in the game. He remained unfazed, untamed by a rival aching from three consecutive Champions League heartbreaks at the hands of Real Madrid (on the verge of a fourth) and the calamitous rain in Madrid that night.
The Calderón had hosted its last derby. Nacho Fernández planted a Real Madrid flag on the pitch, returning the favour to Koke, who had done the same at the Bernabéu in 2013 after winning the Copa del Rey. Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid were off to deal with the slightly more important matter of winning two UEFA Champions League titles in a row.
