From the Vault: How Benzema, Isco and Modrić Demolished the Calderon

MADRID, SPAIN - MAY 10: Isco of Real Madrid celebrates after scoring his team`s first goal during the UEFA Champions League Semi Final second leg match between Club Atletico de Madrid and Real Madrid CF at Vicente Calderon Stadium on May 10, 2017 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images) | Getty Images 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.