Agency, March 23: Real Madrid produced a dramatic comeback to defeat city rivals Atletico Madrid 3-2 in La Liga on Sunday night, with Vinicius Junior scoring twice to inspire the hosts at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Despite finishing the match with 10 men, Madrid secured their third straight league win and also registered their first La Liga victory over Atletico since 2022.
Atletico struck first in the 33rd minute, when Ademola Lookman found the back of the net to hand the visitors an early advantage.
Real Madrid responded after the break. Vinicius Junior converted from the penalty spot in the 52nd minute to level the score at 1-1. Just three minutes later, Federico Valverde completed the turnaround with a superb finish to put Madrid 2-1 ahead.
However, Atletico refused to back down. Nahuel Molina restored parity in the 66th minute, making it 2-2 and setting up a tense finish.
The decisive moment came in the 72nd minute, when Vinicius struck again to score his second goal of the night and restore Madrid’s lead at 3-2.
Madrid were then reduced to 10 players in the 77th minute after Valverde was shown a straight red card, but Carlo Ancelotti’s side held firm in the closing stages to seal a vital derby victory.
With the win, Real Madrid remain second in the La Liga standings with 69 points from 29 matches, while Atletico Madrid stay fourth with 57 points from the same number of games.
In another La Liga fixture played later that night, Barcelona continued their winning run with a 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano.
