The China Mail - Llorente snatches Atletico late draw at rivals Real Madrid

The Spain midfielder rescued Atletico a point to keep their faint title hopes alive and stop Los Blancos opening up a wider lead on second-placed Girona.

Brahim Diaz, who replaced the hurt Vinicius Junior at late notice before the game, opened the scoring for Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Llorente's leveller means Madrid are two points clear of Girona, who drew against Real Sociedad on Saturday, and 10 points above Atletico, fourth.

Catalan minnows Girona visit Real Madrid next weekend in a crunch title showdown made even juicier by Llorente's vital contribution.

This was the third of three hotly-competed Madrid derby clashes in under a month.

Real Madrid won the first, beating Atletico on the way to winning the Spanish Super Cup, while Diego Simeone's side ousted Los Blancos from the Copa del Rey a week later.

Atletico, who also beat Madrid in La Liga in September, are the only team to defeat them this season in any competition, but could not complete their hat-trick.

Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti pulled Vinicius out of the starting line-up after he suffered neck discomfort before the game and deployed Diaz in his stead.

The coach also lined up with full-back Dani Carvajal in the centre of defence as Antonio Rudiger was not fit to start and both Eder Militao and David Alaba are injured.

Former Manchester City playmaker Diaz struck in the 20th minute after Atletico's defence failed to get the ball clear.

Diaz has proven a reliable option for Ancelotti to turn to this season during Vinicius' previous spells out injured and he notched his fourth goal of the league campaign.

Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin made a good save to deny Axel Witsel and Savic nodded narrowly over as Atletico hunted for the equaliser.

The Rojiblancos thought they had it early in the second half when Savic headed Antoine Griezmann's corner home but the goal was disallowed for a controversial offside.

At the moment Savic headed the ball, Saul Niguez was offside in front of Lunin and penalised for it.

Madrid's top goalscorer Jude Bellingham appealed for a penalty at the other end as he tangled with Savic but the referee waved his appeal away.

Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak made a solid stop from Rodrygo at the near post, with Ancelotti throwing out an arm in frustration.

Diaz nutmegged Mario Hermoso brilliantly and bent a shot wide of the far post moments before he was replaced by Joselu.

Madrid looked to have closed the game out but Atletico refused to give in and finally found the equaliser through Llorente.

It was the first time Carvajal and centre-back partner Nacho Fernandez put a foot wrong, failing to react to Memphis Depay's flick-on, and Llorente charged in to head past Lunin.

D.Pan--ThChM