Vinicius Junior scored twice as Real Madrid edged out cross-city rivals Atletico Madrid 3-2 in LaLiga, holding on to boost their title hopes despite a late red card for Federico Valverde.

Ademola Lookman gave Atleti the lead in his first Madrid derby, only for a Vinicius penalty and an opportunistic Valverde finish to flip the script after the break.

It looked as though Atleti would leave the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu with a point after Nahuel Molina scored his second long-range blockbuster in eight days, but Vinicius’ curler quickly restored Madrid’s lead.

Valverde was then sent off for swiping Alex Baena down right under the nose of referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero, but Alvaro Arbeloa’s men survived some late pressure to move back within four points of leaders Barcelona, who beat Rayo Vallecano 1-0 earlier on Sunday.

MADRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID pic.twitter.com/8CuLDatJ0T

— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) March 22, 2026

There were chances at both ends in a lively start to proceedings, with Valverde firing off the foot of the post in between strong saves from both teams’ backup goalkeepers, with Juan Musso denying Dani Carvajal and Andriy Lunin keeping out Marcos Llorente.

Giuliano Simeone cleared two Vinicius efforts off the line, then played a starring role in Atleti’s 33rd-minute opener by flicking the ball into the path of Lookman, who finished neatly.

Madrid turned the game around at the start of the second half, though, with Vinicius converting a 52nd-minute penalty after David Hancko fouled Brahim Diaz, before Valverde capitalised on an error from newly introduced defender Jose Maria Gimenez three minutes later.

Molina – who also scored a stunning goal in Atleti’s previous league game against Getafe – arced a wonderful strike into the top-left corner from 25 yards out in the 66th minute, but that was not the end of the drama.

Madrid quickly restored their lead as Trent Alexander-Arnold’s excellent pass freed Vinicius to find the bottom-right corner, and despite Valverde’s kick from behind on Baena reducing the hosts to 10 men, there was no way back for Atleti, who saw Julian Alvarez strike the post from range.

Data Debrief: Eventful outing for Valverde

Eleven days removed from his Champions League hat-trick against Manchester City, Valverde had another busy night, for better or for worse.

His goal capped a furious Madrid fightback early in the second half and took him to 11 goal involvements in LaLiga this season (four goals, seven assists), matching his previous high in a single campaign (also 11 in 2022-23).

But after Molina and Vinicius exchanged further goals, his first red card in LaLiga – on his 263rd appearance in the competition – put Los Blancos’ position in danger.

As it was, they held out for a crucial victory, even if Alvarez’s long-range strike provided them with a major scare. Madrid ended the game with 17 shots to Atleti’s 13, also winning the expected goals (xG) battle by 2.42 to 1.