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Madrid Derby: Mbappé, Álvarez prove they are big-game players

football10 February 2025 12:53
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Kylian Mbappé netted the equalising goal on his debut in this derby, after Julián Álvarez opened the scoring with a Panenka penalty in the Elderbi de Madrid.

For the fourth time in the past five league meetings between Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid, it was a 1-1 final score in Elderbi de Madrid.

The two rivals couldn’t be separated after 90 minutes of action at the Bernabéu, repeating the result from their first meeting of this campaign to mean Real Madrid hold a one-point lead in the standings and to mean neither team owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.

In the week leading up to Saturday’s derby, all eyes were on Kylian Mbappé and Julián Álvarez, the two stars of these teams and the two players in the best goalscoring form. Having both arrived in LaLiga EA Sports in the summer, playing in Elderbi de Madrid is still a new concept for the Frenchman and Argentinian.

In fact, in the case of Mbappé, Saturday’s was his first ever Elderbi de Madrid and first ever game against Atleti in his career. Álvarez had already played in the draw earlier this season at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, but this was just his second derby and first at the Bernabéu.

As the scorers of the two goals, these two superstars proved once again that they can handle the pressure of the biggest occasions. The fact that Mbappé and Álvarez’s one and only other meeting before Saturday night was in a World Cup final says it all. These are two big-game players.

Julián Álvarez coolly dispatches Atleti’s first Bernabéu penalty in 15 years

The first half of this game was a tense and back-and-forth affair, in which both sides threatened to score the opening goal. Following a Aurélien Tchouaméni foul on Samuel Lino inside the penalty area, Atlético de Madrid were awarded a spot kick, their first at the Bernabéu in this fixture since 2010.

On that occasion, it was Diego Forlán who stepped up and who converted from the spot. This time the responsibility went to another South American, to Álvarez.

Despite the long wait, as the penalty was reviewed by VAR and as the referee waited for all other players to step outside the box, the Argentinian stayed calm and very coolly got the better of Thibaut Courtois with a Panenka-style shot right down the middle.

It’s not easy to score penalties past Courtois, but Álvarez made it look easy. “I’m not going to say that I wasn’t nervous, but I was confident,” he said afterwards. “I was clear about what I wanted to do and it brought the team the first goal.”

MBAPPÉ SCORES 50 MINUTES INTO HIS FIRST ELDERBI DE MADRID

That penalty allowed Atlético de Madrid to go into the halftime break with a 1-0 lead, but Real Madrid quickly equalised after coming out firing to start the second half. After a Jude Bellingham shot was blocked by José María Giménez, Mbappé pounced inside the area with a killer’s touch to fire past Jan Oblak and make it 1-1.

In his first game against Los Colchoneros, Mbappé found the back of the net. He joins the likes of club legends Alfredo Di Stéfano and Raúl González Blanco in scoring for Real Madrid in his first Elderbi de Madrid.

Still, he was frustrated not to have taken all three points. As he put it afterwards: “It was not the result that we wanted, but a great reaction of the team. We have to keep going.”

Keep going he will. Mbappé now has nine goals across all competitions in 2025, the second-most of all players in Europe’s top five leagues. Julián Álvarez isn’t far behind, with five goals in 2025 already, and we can expect both forward to keep finding the back of the net as this thrilling LaLiga EA Sports title race continues.

By: La Liga

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