Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid battled to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup.

The second leg is scheduled for Friday and will decide the winner of the tournament.

The match-up featured a rematch of the Champions League final from last May and revealed quite a few things about both sides ahead of the 2014-15 season. Here are the major points we learned from each team thanks to the game:

Angel Di Maria Makes Madrid Go

The Argentine has been rumored to leave this summer, but his performance in the team's two most recent matches proves that he is too essential to let go of. The starting lineup featured Xabi Alonso, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos in the midfield, but they failed to do little more than pass the ball around and boost the possession stats. When Di Maria came on late in the half, the team's attack started to find its groove and he helped create the initial goal by James Rodriguez. He is too important at this point to let go. And his absence could ultimately prove to be the team's undoing.

James Rodriguez Scores, but Fails to Impress

The Colombian has a lot of hype to live up to.

He scored his first goal, which could have been a winner, but was otherwise ineffective throughout the second half. He constantly gave up possession too easily and only completed 72 percent of his passes. Of all the field players, he was the worse in this department, according to WhoScored.com.

To be fair, Rodriguez did have to come in and replace Cristiano Ronaldo. That is a tall order and one he was unlikely to ever fill successfully. But his performances thus far for Los Blancos have yet to prove that he belong in the starting lineup. He is likely to start on the bench for the majority of his games this season unless he starts picking up his play in upcoming matches.

Defense Continues to Look Unsteady

The lone goal against Real Madrid has been blamed readily on Iker Casillas. But at this point, anything Casillas does wrong is being dissected by the millions of detractors. In essence he has become a scapegoat and it seems that he will have to carry that label with him for the balance of the season.

But the goalkeeper did not have a horrific game. He made four saves, none particularly remarkable but still effective, and had a solid showing overall.

But then he gave up a goal that was not completely his fault. Could he have come off his line in front of the goal to parry away the aerial cross off the corner? Possibly. But when you have five players to your right seemingly covering the incoming cross, it seems unnecessary to make any major moves. There was no way Casillas would have anticipated that the corner would have went between the heads of two defenders and right to a wide open Raul Garcia, who simply needed a slight touch to direct it at Casillas.

Gareth Bale was the one in charge of defending Garcia, and he completely lost his marker as he went after the ball.

Some will complain that Casillas should have done better in organizing his defense in the box, but that onus is also on the players to concentrate at the end of the game. Someone should have been on the back post to help defend that corner.

And the poor defense did not just appear in the final moments. They made mistakes throughout the match, including an awful giveaway from Sergio Ramos that forced Casillas into make a save on Saúl Ñíguez Esclapez.

This is certainly worrying for the team moving forward.

Atletico Playing Like It Did in 2013-14

Diego Simeone's squad may have added Antoine Griezmann and Mario Mandzukic over the summer to add firepower to the lineup, but the team still sat behind the ball and defended with tremendous aplomb. Despite having less than 30 percent of the possession, the team managed more shots on goal than their rivals and looked more efficient with their direct counter. The defense looks as good as ever, though the team did get lucky not to get a penalty late in the encounter. The two yellow cards in the opening quarter hour are also a cause for concern, as they could hurt the team's style in the long run.

They are certainly contenders to retain their title in 2014-15.

Cristiano Ronaldo Concerns Continue

The biggest story of the night was the injury to Ronaldo. The superstar was woeful throughout the first half (as was Gareth Bale for most of the game), but his substitution at halftime (a rarity) proved that something is still not right with the superstar. Coach Carlo Ancelotti stated in the postgame that he felt that Ronaldo was fine, but he also stated that the team played well. The latter statement could not be further from the truth and creates doubt about the certainty of the former. How Madrid copes could be a major storyline of the season.

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