The match that was built up as a battle of the superheroes ended without a winner, all set up for a sequel instead. Kylian Mbappé and Julián Álvarez had looked out from Madrid’s front pages on the morning of the derby, the media turning all Marvel Comics, and they will likely be there on Sunday too. The man they liken to a Mutant Turtle and the striker they call the Spider scored one each as another derby finished 1-1 leaving these two rivals first and second in La Liga, a single point between them, left to fight another day.

Between them Mbappé and Álvarez have scored 37 goals already in their debut seasons; on a night that took a while to get going but did eventually become a real contest, they took that tally to thirty-nine. It began with Atlético in the ascendency and ended with Madrid on top, the clock running down and expectation running high, but ultimately there was no final, dramatic scene or epic end, just a title race that gets ever tighter. A win on Sunday would put Barcelona right in the fight with them.