It was the perfect
motivation. Atletico, still scarred by
leaving Monday's Ballon d'Or
ceremony in Zurich with zero
reward for their astonishing
achievements in 2014, watched on
as Cristiano Ronaldo presented his
Golden Ball to the Bernabeu crowd.
Madrid were in celebratory mood;
Atleti were out to prove a point.
Ronaldo was all smiles alongside
Puskas prize winner James
Rodriguez, Sergio Ramos and Toni
Kroos (both included in the FIFPro
XI on Monday as Diego Costa and
Diego Godin inexplicably missed
out). And less than a minute into
the game, with fans only just back
in their seats after raising a huge
gold mosaic in Cristiano's honour,
Diego Simeone's side took the lead
through Fernando Torres.
"It was hard [on them]," Simeone
said afterwards. "There was a big
crowd and the choreography was
very pretty, but such an early goal
marked the rhythm of the match. It
wasn't part of the [Madrid] plan."
When Torres left Atletico, he was
too good for his boyhood club. And
when Torres came back, they were
supposedly too good for him. But
much like the rest of his team-
mates and his coach as well, he
was out to prove a point in this
match - and he did so emphatically.
After his early first, Madrid
suddenly needed four and they
never really recovered. Indeed, after
pulling back a goal through Sergio
Ramos later in the first half, Carlo
Ancelotti's men made the same
mistake again in the second period
as Torres netted an even quicker
goal from the restart. To do it once
was careless; twice was
unforgivable.
The Ballon d'Or has been a
distraction to Madrid's start to
2015, with back-to-back defeats in
the build-up to the ceremony and
now this latest disappointment.
Ronaldo has been off the boil,
presumably preoccupied with the
individual prize, while the team
have failed to find the form that
saw them rack up 22 straight wins
before Christmas.
For Atleti, meanwhile, this was a
golden opportunity to show why
they should not have been ignored
in Monday's gala. Simeone, who
missed out on the Coach of the
Year award to Germany's Joachim
Low, admitted the club would work
harder still to try and change
opinions.
"It doesn't depend on us," he said
on Wednesday. "So we have to
accept things as they are and keep
working in search of that
acceptance."
That will certainly have formed part
of the Argentine's pre-match pep
talk. Madrid celebrating their
awards right under their rivals'
noses merely added fuel to the fire
right before kick-off.
Torres, once linked with Real, was
perhaps the unexpected hero with
both his side's strikes at the
Bernabeu, but Simeone relishes
working with players who have a
point to prove. Virtually all of
Atleti's side fall into that category
but none more than the Spain
striker, caught in a seemingly
endless downward spiral over the
last few seasons.

Stupid madrid deserves to lose.
With all superstars in the squad +
winner of ballon d'or and Puskas,
you can still do nothing. Atleti has
no star and ni award but played
much better. What a shame! And I
just don't get it, how could
Rodriguez won the Puskas award,
not Van Persie?

The lesson is that cr7 cant help his
team when he is needed the most,
bale and isco are better players
when real Madrid need a result,
last season cl bale n ramos won
the match against Atletico, also in
the club world cup, and bale won it
again in the copa final against
Barca and yet all the credits went
to cr7, what a bullshit!!

Bross wch of dem de pain u ? NA d full squad,Ronaldo or d ballon d'or way dem gv am d pain u?cus I no evn ustnd watin u de talk

bale or ronaldo alone cost more than the entire atletico team put together, yet...

Baddestguyp:
bale or ronaldo alone cost more than the entire atletico team put together, yet...

Yet wot?

derrick333:

Yet wot?

do I need to state how torres taught real Madrid football