Madrid’s derby may have been Atlético’s this season, but Europe still belongs to Real. Atlético were down to 10 men, exhausted, and willing the clock to run down, hoping for extra time and penalties, when Cristiano Ronaldo burst up the right and fed Javier Hernández to score the goal that sent the European champions through to the semi-finals. They had finally beaten their city rivals – for the first time since they met in last year’s final.
There had been seven derbies since then, but eight was the number. As Hernández put the ball in the back of the net, the scoreboard read 88 minutes. At last, Real had beaten Atlético and at last they had found a way through, without four of their usual starters, too. Over 180 minutes, one goal had been enough and Real had got it. They had searched for it for much of this game, far more than Atlético had, but had not always been sure of finding it. Yet Carlo Ancelotti had preached patience and it proved a virtue.
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“We’re alive and when we’re alive we’re very dangerous. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,” Ancelotti smiled afterwards, adding: “I’m joking: I’m not a philosopher. But we can compete with anyone, no problem.” As for Diego Simeone, he was left expressing his “pride” in his team. “When I was a boy I was taught to compete and that if you go home having given everything you go happy even if you have lost. Lots of coaches would envy me having players who run for 90 minutes like my players do, despite the difficulties they faced,” he said.
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