Real Madrid were held by Atletico Madrid in a hotly-contested Madrid Derby in La Liga at Santiago Bernabeu.
Los Blancos needed a win to close the gap on La Liga hopefuls Barcelona to six points, after slipping 9 points away from the Blaugrana at the top.
The reigning European and LaLiga champions went into the game buoyed by a convincing Champions League win over Liverpool at Anfield.
They came from two goals down to smash the 2021/22 Premier League runners-up and 2022 Champions League finalists by a shock 2-5 scoreline.
Despite a brilliant start to the Champions League round 16 first leg, Los Blancos have played second fiddle to arch rivals Barcelona in LaLiga. A win against Atletico would have been a big boost to their LaLiga title pursuit.
Los Blancos hoped to build on their first leg win over the City rivals this season at the Metropolitano Stadium, with Carlo-Ancelotti lining a strong squad against the Diego Simeone-led team.
The match kicked off in earnest with the two sides balancing off early threats and squaring out with much vigor and drive against each other.
Real Madrid had the better against their solid opponents, attacking and trying to break through Atletico Madrid’s defense.
The visitors held their grit and withstood the threats but were force deep into their own half throughout the game.
Desperate for a win, Los Blancos made a lot of attempts to break the brink wall defense of the visitors, but failed to rip apart the backline of the visitors.
Atletico waited to catch their hosts on the counter, but were foiled upfield when launching attacks as Madrid proved far superior and more clinical with the ball.
A dragging 45 minutes of play saw the Los Blancos finished the first half goalless after missing some chances and failing to overpower Atletico’s resolute defending.
Both sides went into the break with the virgin scoreline, but Real Madrid proved to be the better side throughout the first half of play.
The hosts ramped up the pressure in the second half, searching for an opening goal. Atletico Madrid moved deeper into their half, with all ten players battling Madrid attacking threats in their own half.
It was another subpar delivery by Atletico as Diego Simeone seemed unyielding in his tactics as he fired up the players on the touchlines urging them to hold on.
They played second fiddle to Real Madrid throughout the game. Los Blancos had 61% of the ball possession, and completed 629 passes with 18 attempts, 7 on target.
Atletico Madrid managed only 39% of the ball possession, completed 399 passes and had only 7 attempts with 2 on target.
However, Atletico Madrid took a shock lead in the 78th minute against the run of play with Gimenez opening the scoring for the visitors.
Seven minutes after Gimenez’s goal, Real pulled a strong and sharp response, netting an equaliser seven minutes from regulation time with Rodriguez on the score sheet for Los Blancos.
Both sides shared spoils after the final whistle with Los Blancos only inching by a point more at Barcelona at the top despite playing one game more.
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