Real Madrid kept moving the ball around, still trying to get it onto Ronaldo's foot so their top scorer could finish the move.
In the 33rd minute,
Modrić controlled the ball and glanced at Di María, who had drifted wide and was waiting on the touchline.
He frowned.
Passing it there?
So what?
Even if Di María got to the byline and crossed,
the ball would still have to come back into the middle.
Then it would still depend on whether Benzema or Ronaldo could get lucky on the second ball.
That kind of attack was too inefficient.
In an instant,
Modrić had already run through several attacking options.
He may have been criticized by some Madrid fans as a flop,
but he absolutely was not a flop.
He was just not fully in rhythm this season.
That could not really be helped.
He had arrived in a new league, was still adjusting to the environment, and then picked up a few injuries.
That meant he never found his rhythm early on.
And once you fall behind in rhythm like that,
it becomes very hard to get it back in the middle of the season.
Besides,
Özil had also been very consistent this season.
It was normal for Modrić to start on the bench at times.
But he was not willing to simply accept that.
He felt he was better than Özil.
The only thing Özil had over him was the final pass for Ronaldo.
Beyond that,
Özil was behind him in fitness, physicality, and tempo control.
That was why, even when the Madrid media insulted him as a flop,
Modrić remained calm.
He believed in himself.
As long as he recovered his own rhythm,
Özil would not be able to beat him for the spot.
Even in the stands,
the whistles were sharp and constant.
He could hear that some of them even came from the away section.
Whistling your own player was a proud Real Madrid tradition...
"Pass it!"
"Don't give it to that Croatian flop!"
The Madrid fans were getting anxious.
Now that Modrić kept touching the ball and the attack still had no spark,
if this were the Bernabéu,
he would already have been booed into pieces.
Modrić ignored it all.
After receiving the ball, he did not pass immediately.
Instead, he carried it forward one step.
Shane Carter glanced over at Modrić in the distance, keeping an eye on Ronaldo's position.
Unlike the Madrid fans,
Shane did not underestimate Modrić.
He knew the Croatian was a top-class midfielder.
And sure enough,
Modrić dribbled forward himself, then played a wall pass with Benzema, and lifted his left foot as if he were about to shoot.
As Atlético's back line stepped out,
Modrić slipped the ball into the left half-space.
"Cristiano...."
The commentators shouted, and Madrid's number 7 and Atlético's number 10 both burst toward the same spot almost at the same time.
Under everyone's eyes,
Ronaldo swung his leg and shot.
Shane slid in.
Shane hooked the ball away and sent it toward Raúl García, who had dropped back to defend out on the flank.
At the same time,
Ronaldo's right foot, which had been aimed at the ball, slammed into Shane's shin guard instead.
The Portuguese immediately threw both arms up and shouted as he fell forward.
He sat on the ground, raising a hand and looking at the referee.
The stands erupted in boos.
Atlético Madrid fans and Real Madrid fans were both booing,
though for very different reasons.
"Dive! Dive!"
"Portuguese man, get up!"
In the stands,
Atlético supporters waved their fists at Ronaldo.
The referee crossed his arms and then opened them.
No foul.
Shane slid for a full meter along the turf, then sprang back up and sprinted forward.
"Give it to me!"
he shouted, raising his hand.
Raúl García immediately passed the ball to him.
Khedira came charging in,
full of aggression.
A slide tackle—
clearly ready to take out man and ball together.
But at that very moment,
Shane's first step was even faster.
He locked onto the incoming ball,
and with one touch, blasted a long pass forward.
Then he leapt lightly,
going cleanly over Khedira's sliding challenge.
After landing, he bent his knees slightly and then exploded forward like a spring under tension.
Shane... burst of speed!
And what looked like a clearance was actually a precise long ball to Costa on the flank.
Costa took the ball and turned to sprint forward.
His power in the dribble is immense.
Real Madrid's back line did not dare rush him.
They compressed inward instead, afraid to get beaten.
Costa did not try to go through the entire defense by himself.
He saw Griezmann coming to support and immediately passed to him.
Griezmann did not stop the ball.
Instead, using the space Costa's run had opened up, he pushed forward with the ball.
Madrid's defense was now stretched thin, so they had to shift as a unit again.
And in the middle of that movement,
Griezmann suddenly used the outside of his foot to play it diagonally.
The ball went into the right half-space.
At the edge of the box,
the camera swung over.
Atlético's number 10 was already sprinting up from behind.
"Suuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!"
Amid the commentators' screams
and the roar of the Calderón,
Shane did not slow down.
He simply pushed the ball ahead with speed,
using nothing but pace to go past the sliding Xabi Alonso and burst into the box!
"Shane! He's in the box!"
"Shane!!!"
"Watch out!"
"Suuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
All kinds of voices flooded the commentary box.
The crowd's volume kept rising.
Atlético fans had already clenched their fists, eyes fixed on Shane as he carried the ball into the area.
He had already raised his leg...
"Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuu—SHOT!!"
Mario shouted!
Shane's left foot came down.
Diego López lowered his center of gravity and leaned his body toward the far post.
But at that moment,
the ball...
was not struck.
"Shane... he dragged it back!!"
Mario nearly choked on his own saliva.
The camera had also expected Shane to shoot, and jolted before pulling back in surprise.
Diego López was now down on one knee, panic on his face.
Shane had pulled the ball past him, and from an almost impossible angle, thrown himself at it...
"Shane... the sliding finish!"
Amid the rising roar,
the ball was stabbed toward goal by his sliding touch.
The moment it crossed the line,
boom!
The Calderón...
shook violently.
Two-nil!
A right hook right on Real Madrid's jaw!
KO!!!!!!!!!!
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