This archive report was first published on 27 July 2019.
Atletico Madrid's Diego Costa made headlines with a four-goal performance as his team humbled La Liga rivals Real Madrid 7-3 in a pre-season friendly at MetLife Stadium on July 26, 2019.
Costa's impressive display saw him score a hat-trick by halftime, with his fourth goal coming in the 51st minute. He was later sent off in the 63rd minute after a testy shoving match reduced both teams to 10 men.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane acknowledged his team's poor start, saying, "We started the game very poorly. In a top-level match such as this, we had a very bad start, Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. "The players are well aware and they're disappointed."
Despite the loss, Zidane remained optimistic, stating, "I'm not concerned, but I'm hurt. You don't play to lose. But we can't be looking backwards, it was a bad game and now we have to focus on what went wrong so we can try and make sure it doesn't happen again," said Zidane.
Atletico's Portuguese 19-year-old Joao Felix, signed from Benfica this month for Sh14.5 billion (126 million euros), scored his first goal for the team and helped set up two more. Angel Correa also scored for Atletico, who had run the score to 5-0 at halftime and 6-0 before Real Madrid got on the scoreboard.
Welsh star Gareth Bale, reportedly on the verge of a lucrative move to Chinese Super League outfit Jiangsu Suning, was sent on with less than half an hour remaining but couldn't provide a spark.
