Goals from Tiago Mendes and Saul have earned Atletico Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead over Real Madrid in El Derbi Madrileno at the Vicente Caldern Stadium in La Liga this afternoon.
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After a fast start, Atletico were left shouting for a penalty when Arda Turan thought he had been nudged in the box by Real defender Fabio Coentrao, but the referee thought nothing of it.
The hosts backed up a promising entrance to the game with an opening goal in the 14th minute, and it came via Mendes who took a pop at goal before being rewarded thanks to some lacklustre keeping from Real stopper Iker Casillas.
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Carlo Ancelotti's men were left stunned in the 18th minute as they found themselves two goals down, when Saul pulled off an overhead kick to complete some neat attacking play from Guilherme Siqueira.
Real appeared to be on the ropes after 30 minutes as Antoine Griezmann found the back of the net, only for his effort to be incorrectly ruled out for offside, leaving Atleti to take a 2-0 advantage into the break.
Christopher Dodd
