TheCable

Real Madrid were stunned at the Vicente Calderon as Atletico Madrid convincingly beat their city rivals 4-0 on Saturday.

Cristiano Ronaldo completed his two-match ban for kicking out at Cordoba left-back Edimar a fortnight ago but the visitors were otherwise depleted without the injured Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Luka Modric, James Rodriguez and the suspended Marcelo.

First-half goals from Tiago and Saul Niguez put Atletico in control of the game before Antoine Griezmann and Mario Mandzukic sealed a first home league win over Real since 1999.

Atletico have now beaten their neighbours twice in La Liga and over two legs in the Spanish Super Cup and Copa del Rey this season to avenge their heart breaking loss in the Champions League final last May.

Real are still ahead of Atletico on the log with four points, but Barcelona can move to within a point of the leaders should they beat Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

The home side started the game on a sour note as Koke was forced off with injury inside the first 10 minutes, but they nonetheless drew first blood when Tiago slammed a half-volley past Iker Casillas.

They made it 2-0 after Guilherme Siqueira’s run into the visitors’ box saw him reach the by-line before pulling the ball back for Saul Niguez to score with an overhead kick.

The visitors didn’t know what hit them and didn’t look like scoring until the latter stages of the second half.

Atleti should have extended their lead through their strike partnership of Griezmann and Mandzukic before the hour mark.

The Croatian striker was found in the box unmarked but his header was easily dealt with by Casillas, while the Frenchman missed a close-range strike and header in successive duration of play.

Their third goal duly came as Arda Turan’s cross was met at the far post by Saul, and the substitute knocked the ball down for Griezmann to slide home.

With a minute of normal time remaining the home side completed the rout.

Substitute Fernando Torres timed his run to perfection as he broke the offside trap of the visitors and picked out Mandzukic for the fourth goal.