The Madrid Derby: Los Blancos make the trip to face Atletico – Match Preview

Real Madrid will make the trip across town to the Metropolitano to face city rivals Atletico Madrid on Sunday night, 9pm CET, in what promises to be a tension-filled game.


Atletico Madrid currently sit seventh place in La Liga, having scored nine goals in their opening five games while conceding four. They’ve had difficulties this season on both ends of the field, and are recently coming off a 2 – 0 loss in Germany to Bayer Leverkusen where Felipe and Mario Hermoso played together in defense and were blown away.

Expect head coach Diego Simeone to go back to something more similar to where his team won 4 – 1 in Celta Vigo in their last La Liga game. In that game, Reinieldo started as the left center-back of the defensive line while Yannick Carrasco took left-wing-back duties and Geoffrey Kondogbia provided balance in midfield (neither of the latter two players started vs Leverkusen).

The good news for Atletico Madrid is that they got back Jan Oblak, somewhat unexpectedly, in time for tomorrow’s game after the goalkeeper was nursing an injury and was initially expected to be out. Diego Simeone confirmed Oblak’s retun in today’s pre-game press conference.

Simeone also touched on Atletico’s struggles in general without Stefan Savic and Jose Gimenez — both of whom won’t be available tomorrow:

“Last season we struggled a lot, the time that Savic and Gimenez missed was often,” Simeone said. “We hope that this season that does not happen. They are important players for us and they give us alternatives to have more tools. We are all working to ensure that does not happen this season.”

On the Real Madrid front, Carlo Ancelotti confirmed today that Karim Benzema will not be ready in time for tomorrow’s game. Eder Militao is back in the squad, but may not start over the in-form Antonio Rudiger.


Probable XIs
Atletico Madric: Oblak; Molina, Felipe, Witsel, Reinildo, Carrasco; Kondogbia, Correa, Koke; Cunha, Felix.

Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Rudiger, Alaba, Mendy: Tchouaméni, Modric, Kroos; Valverde, Vinicius, Rodrygo.