Eurozone: Aguero cameo comes too late for Atletico

In simpler times, whether a player was fit or injured, a manager would never consider saving his best XI for another day, so Sergio Kun Aguero would have been on the pitch from the first kick of Saturday's helter-skelter Madrid derby.

IN simpler times, whether a player was fit or injured, a manager would never consider saving his best XI for another day so Sergio Kun Aguero would have been on the pitch from the first kick of Saturday's helter-skelter Madrid derby.

As it was, Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores left his talisman on the bench for the first 45 minutes – enough time for Real Madrid to take a two-goal lead – sending him on to save the match in the second period when it was too late, but only just.

It is no wonder that Chelsea's need for a marauding second striker to fizz around Didier Drogba has taken them to the door of the dynamic Argentine. He ran Real Madrid ragged, just as he had Chelsea in the Champions League last week.

Sergio Ramos was sent off for bringing Aguero down on the edge of the box on 65 minutes and after Diego Forlan had taken the score to 3-1 it was Aguero who muscled his way past Real centre-back Pepe to make it 3-2 and leave Atletico fans believing in the most unlikely of comebacks. He could have completed the resurrection but the brilliant Iker Casillas blocked his shot in a last gasp one-on-one, leaving the home supporters wondering what might have been if their number 10 had been unleashed on the visitors from the off.

"He played 45 minutes and it really took it out of him," said Flores afterwards: "We knew we had a bullet on the bench but that we had to be careful how we used it. It is a shame that he was not in better shape. He took a risk by playing because he could have broken down again but he reactivated the team."

They needed reactivating and went into the game not having won at home to their big-city rivals in 10 years. But they were behind on four minutes after Kaka picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area and shot past Sergio Asenjo. Twenty minutes later Marcelo ran on to a pass from Karim Benzema and from the byline blasted into the roof of the net.

On the hour Gonzalo Higuain dispossesed Perea in the area and fired past Asenjo to make it three. But then Aguero forced Ramos's red card tackle, Forlan converted Tomas Ujfalusi's pass and Aguero's demolition of Pepe and a shot past Casillas made for a nervous finish.

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Bayern Munich fans got the one result they did not want as they saw their side pick up just a point against Schalke 04. The 1-1 draw saw them slip to eighth place – six points behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen – but will probably not be bad enough to see their under-fire coach Louis Van Gaal lose his job.

Meanwhile, in Serie A, Milan climbed to third with a 2-1 win at troubled Lazio. Leaders Internazionale had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Roma.

Lyons missed the chance to go top of Le Ligue last night as they were held to a 5-5 draw by Marseilles in an extraordinary game at Stade Gerland. The south coast side looked on course for victory at 4-2 ahead with 11 minutes remaining. But Lisandro Lopez scored twice in four minutes and Michel Bastos netted in the 90th minute to put Lyons 5-4 in front before Jeremy Toulalan's own goal handed Marseilles an even later leveller.

Player of the week: Ibrahimovic

IT was possibly the most expensive bench in history – Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola named Leo Messi, Dani Alves, Xavi and Andres Iniesta among his substitutes leaving Real Mallorca with just Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to worry about. Ibrahimovic it was who picked the lock on the visitors' defence with an exquisite back-heel for Pedro to run on to. He duly converted the first before adding his and Barça's second. Henry headed in the third with his first goal for Barça in six months. Messi added a penalty in the 4-2 win that keeps the champions a point clear at the top.