The 18-year-old saved Real in the Madrid derby
The Madrid derby at the Bernabeu heated up from the 64th minute, when Angel Correa elbowed Antonio Rudiger in the chest. Referee Jesus Gil Manzano observed the situation and immediately showed a red card to the Atletico striker without help from VAR. For the first time in the 21st century, Atletico received two red cards in two consecutive Madrid derbies in La Liga. In the first leg at the Metropolitano Stadium in September 2022, Mario Hermoso was disqualified.
Lack of people, but Atletico suddenly opened the score thanks to a fixed ball. In the 78th minute, Antoine Griezmann kicked the ball into the penalty area so that central defender Jose Gimenez cut the corner to the corner out of the block of Thibaut Courtois.
Seven minutes later, Real equalized the score under the same scenario. Luka Modric took a corner from the left to Alvaro Rodriguez to head high in an empty position with the ball going diagonally, leaving goalkeeper Jan Oblak stuck.
Rodriguez came on for Nacho Fernandez from the 77th minute, and needed just eight minutes to score Real's first La Liga goal. At the age of 18 years and 226 days, he became the youngest player to score in a derby between Real and Atletico in La Liga in the 21st century, breaking the record set by Gonzalo Higuain in 2007 with 19 years and 76 days.
For the first time, two Uruguayan players - Rodriguez and Gimenez - opened fire together in the Madrid derby in La Liga in the 21st century. With a 1-1 draw, neither team could improve their positions. Atletico are still fourth with 42 points, 10 points behind Real in second place.
Yesterday, Real dominated in the first half with 62 per cent possession, eight shots on target - compared to two and one. The first opportunity came in the 9th minute, when Marco Asensio shot his left foot from outside the box and sent the ball wide, making Oblak unable to catch it. In the 15th minute, Vinicius led the ball from the left wing into the center and then stopped by Hermoso with his head. In the 33rd minute, Asensio cut his forte left foot, but the ball went too high.
On the opposite side, two shots of Yannick Carrasco's shot from a narrow angle were saved by Courtois in the 21st minute and Saul Niguez's finish from a distance of nearly 30m was inaccurate in the 43rd minute.
The two teams only created mutations in the second half of the second half, with one table each and accepting points.
On March 2, Real had another difficult match when receiving Barca in the semi-final first leg of the King's Cup, while Atletico played the next match against Sevilla in the 24th round of La Liga on March 4.
Rodriguez began his career in his hometown of Uruguay at the age of 6 at the local academy C.F. Global Palamos. He then moved to Girones-Sebat and then joined Girona's youth team. After five years at Girona, the Uruguayan striker joined La Fabrica at Real - where he won the 2022 Copa del Rey Juvenil - a youth tournament with 16 teams from the Division de Honor Juvenil participating.
Rodriguez made his Castilla debut - Real Madrid's B team - on October 24, 2021, when he came on in a 3-1 loss to Atlético Sanluqueno. He first entered the first team on October 22, 2022, when he was a substitute in the 3-1 win over Sevilla in La Liga. Rodriguez played his first match in a 1-0 win over Cacereno in the King's Cup on January 3, 2023. In the 2-0 win at Osasuna in round 22 of La Liga last week, the 18-year-old striker also made an impression when creating an assist for Asensio to set the score in the second minute of compensation.
"Alvaro will be officially in the first team of Real from next season. He is a special type of player that the first team does not currently have. I will talk to coach Raul about letting Alvaro play for both the first team and the first team. Castilla from now until the end of the season," coach Ancelotti said of the young student at the press conference after the derby.
