On Tuesday, Real Madrid defeated Atalanta 3-2 away in the sixth round of the Champions League. For Carlo Ancelotti's team, it was a key victory in the fight for the knockout stage of the competition. After five rounds, the defending champions had only six points and were only 24th in the table.
Tuesday's match started brilliantly for Real. Kylian Mbappe scored a goal in the 10th minute to make it 1-0. The Spanish mood changed several minutes later. First, Mbappe left the field due to an injury, and in added time, Charles de Ketelaere scored a draw with a penalty kick.
Even though the second half started with Atalanta's advantage, Real struck two strong blows in just three minutes. In the 56th minute, Vinicius Jr scored a goal to make it 2-1, and a moment later Jude Bellingham increased the lead.
Even though Ademola Lookman scored a goal in the 65th minute, Real won in Bergamo and advanced to 18th place in the table. However, Atalanta could have drawn this match. It could have, but Mateo Retegui missed a great opportunity in the added time of the second half.
The Spaniards have no reservations about Marciniak
The Champions League hit had a Polish accent. The meeting was led by Szymon Marciniak, his assistants were Tomasz Listkiewicz and Adam Kupsik, and the technical referee was Karol Arys, making his debut at this level. The VAR referee was Tomasz Kwiatkowski.
The Poles did not have an easy task, but they did very well. Marciniak dealt with the only controversial situation, i.e. Aurelian Tchouameni's foul on Sead Kolasinac in the penalty area, immediately awarding a penalty kick to the hosts.
The Spaniards, who are known for eagerly commenting and criticizing the work of referees, this time did not say anything bad about Marciniak and his squad. This says a lot about the work of Polish judges. – He tripped it. Stupid behavior, obvious penalty kick – this is how former Spanish referee Iturralde Gonzlez commented on the situation at the end of the first half.
Every website that described the meeting and the situation agreed with his opinion. None of them questioned Marciniak's decision, and everyone unanimously wrote about Tchouameni's foul. “Just before the break, the Italians received a penalty kick after an error by Tchouameni. The Frenchman was indecisive in his intervention and brushed against a running rival. It was a mistake that Marciniak rightly considered a misconduct,” wrote elmundo.es.
For Marciniak, it was the third match in this edition of the Champions League. On November 6, the Pole was the referee of the match between Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid (1:2), and 20 days later he officiated the match between Sporting CP and Arsenal (1:5).