MADRID: Julian Alvarez scored twice as Atletico Madrid came from behind to thrash city rivals Real Madrid 5-2 in a pulsating derby on Saturday that handed the La Liga leaders their first loss after a perfect start to the season.

The thrilling encounter at a raucous Metropolitano stadium, with nearly 70,000 fans on the edge of their seats, saw Atletico fight back from 2-1 down to claim a memorable victory that lifted them to fourth place with 12 points.

Xabi Alonso’s Real remain atop La Liga on 18 points, two ahead of champions Barcelona who have the chance to move top, if they beat Real Sociedad on Sunday.

Atletico’s aggressive start paid off when Robin Le Normand opened the scoring with a header in the 14th minute, but Kylian Mbappe burst through to level with an unstoppable strike from close range in a quick counter in the 25th minute, with Arda Guller netting a volley from a Vinicius Jr cross 11 minutes later to put the visitors in front.

Alexander Sorloth’s header in added time before the break gave Atletico a boost and they regained the lead five minutes into the second half when Alvarez converted a penalty after Guler’s high boot clipped rival Nico Gonzalez on the face inside the box.

After Alvarez extended their lead in the 64th minute with a sublime free kick into the top corner, substitute Antoine Griezmann sealed the win in a quick counter in added time that set the Metropolitano on fire, with the crowd jumping and singing in ecstasy.

It was Atletico’s first win over their city rivals since January 2024 and the first time they had scored five goals against Real Madrid in 75 years. The stunning victory saw Atletico rise provisionally to fourth.

“There’s a lot of emotions... we’ve had a troubled start to the season,” said Atletico boss Diego Simeone, “From the start of the game we knew where we could hurt them... today was a very, very good [performance].”

Real, who had conceded only three goals in six wins in their first six league matches, were humbled by much superior rivals who dominated the game and exploited a glaring weakness against the high balls, as Atletico’s first two goals came from crosses.

“It was a bad loss and we must learn from it,” Alonso told a press conference. “We were not good enough, made too many mistakes but it’s one of those losses that came be helpful moving forward. It is still early in the season and there is a lot ahead of us.”

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2025