A derby that was expected by many to be interesting and intriguing turned out to be annoying and depressing as Atletico Madrid humiliated City rivals Real Madrid in their International Champions Cup clash.

Both coaches rolled out their best line ups with Zinedine Zidane unleashing his favourite starters which included new signing Eden Hazard while Joao Felix started for Atletico Madrid.

We were reminded of one problem that has haunted Real Madrid for quite a long time and that is a slow start. While Atletico Madrid kick started the match with the sole intention of outwitting and outsmarting their opponents, Real Madrid started lackadaisical as usual, expecting to grow into the game as it wore on but that was not to happen as Atletico through my man of the match Diego Costa ran riot from the first minute.

Costa opened the floodgates as early as the first minute and new signing Felix made it two for Atletico before the goals continued to flow in until half time. At the end of the first half, the score line ran five goals to nil in favour of Atletico Madrid.

Zidane became typical Zidane and apparently did some serious talking in the dressing room and Real Madrid came back onto the pitch for the second half looking more serious than they started in the first. They would go on to score three goals in the second half but it didn’t prevent Atletico from adding extra two and before the match was finished, Real Madrid were humiliated this way in a pre season match for the first time in 39 years.

Yes, I know some people especially fans would try to justify this loss with excuses like “it is just pre season” “The players are still in a chemistry learning process”, but those are bulls*** excuses. These matches are very important in the mindset of players. With this win, or rather with this humiliation, Atletico Madrid would feel on top and approach the league derby come September and February 2020 that they can always beat Real Madrid black and blue and that extra confidence and motivation does a lot for a team and its spirit. Coupled with the fact that this is the third match Real Madrid has played without winning, losing two and drawing one under ninety minutes.

From a Real Madrid fan’s perspective, the past three matches the team has played has been nothing more but totally disappointing and I truly hope Zidane is right when he confidently reported that the team would be having a great season after the humiliation.

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