Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid: Preview and Projected Lineups

Will Los Blancos suffer their first loss of the season at the hands of their city rivals Atletico Madrid?

Vicente Calderon will host its last Madrid derby game in La Liga as the hosts are planning to move to a new 67,000 capacity stadium by the end of the season.

Atletico will come into this game in somewhat of a bad form. They lost twice in last three La Liga matches, while needing a last-minute Antoine Griezmann strike to edge out the Russian minnows Rostov in Champions League. A positive outcome from this derby is definitely needed for Diego Simeone’s men.

Meanwhile Real are still undefeated from all competitions this season. Although they had a shocking draw away to Legia Warsaw in Champions League, they quickly bounced back by giving another Madrid outfits Leganes a 3-0 trashing. They will come into this match high in confidence, although they haven’t won at Vicente Calderon since the April of 2013.

Both sides last met in May, where they squared off in San Siro to crown as the champions of Europe. Real won the match in penalties as Simeone and Atletico suffered a heartbreaking loss. They will look to avenge for it come Saturday, and finish the last ever Madrid derby in league play in Vicente Calderon in a happy fashion.

Since their last meeting, both teams went though few changes. Atletico have brought in four new players such as Kevin Gameiro, Nicolas Gaitan, Sime Vrsaljko, and Andre Moreira. Gameiro has done a decent job since his big money move from Sevilla and netted five goals in 13 matches. Argentine international Gaitan has been playing limited minutes due to Yannick Ferreira Carrasco’s amazing run of form but still can be an impactful substitute late in the match. While Croatian international Vrsaljo has only played 180 minutes since his arrival and Moreira hasn’t played at all.

The current European champions made some shake ups of their own as well. Marco Asensio and Fabio Coentrao were called back from their loan spells while Alvaro Morata was reacquired from Juventus and Dominican youngster Mariano Diaz was promoted to the first team. The decision to repurchase Morata paid its dividends as he currently leads the goalscoring list in the team with eight goals in all competitions. While the 20-year-old Asensio has also been showing his potential as he already has six goals to his name.

The hosts are almost at are full strength according to the latest reports from their training session on Thursday. Griezmann appeared to be recovering well from his injury and is most likely to start on Saturday. The Frenchman has eight goals and five assists this season and his availability will be a huge boost for the home side. The only players that are ruled out to miss the game at this moment are Augusto Fernandez and Alessio Cerci.

Real Madrid look to be definitely suffering more than the hosts when it comes to the injury department. The visitors will be surely without Toni Kroos, Pepe, and Morata while there seem to be concerns over fitness of Casemiro, Mateo Kovacic, and Luka Modric. The good news for Los Blancos is that their captain Sergio Ramos is ready to make a return from his injury along with Karim Benzema, who passed the latest fitness test and joined the full training.

Atletico will most likely come out with their usual 4-4-2. Since starting off the season slowly, Simeone has switched things up by shifting Koke from the wing to the center of midfield, resulting a more attacking style. However, it also made the defense more vulnerable and even the captain Gabi had come out and said the defense is more “fragile” with Koke in the middle. The team has scored up to 25 goals in 11 league games this season but has conceded six in last four matches, unusual for Simeone’s side.

Due to injury issues to key players, Zinedine Zidane could field a 4-4-2 formation without a real number nine. Zidane has a policy of not rushing players back from injuries, which means Benzema could miss out and Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale might start up top. Given that Casemiro and Kroos are out, the Croatian duo of Kovacic and Modric can hold the midfield while Lucas Vasquez or Marco Asensio start on the right wing and Isco on the left.

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This will be a hard-fought battle between two city rivals and promises to be an entertaining affair. The key matchup will be in midfield and Atletico will try to take full advantage of Real’s weakened side. It is also worth noting that Ronaldo hasn’t been able to score in Calderon in his last five visits, and his side failed to win any of those matches.

Real may be on a good form coming into this game but given their key injuries and recent record in Calderon, this might just be a mountain too high to climb. The hosts will grind out a 1-0 win and give the visitors their first loss of the season.

Projected Lineups

Atletico Madrid (4-4-2) – Oblak; Filipe Luis, Godin, Savic, Juanfran; Carrasco, Gabi, Koke, Saul; Griezmann, Gameiro.

Real Madrid (4-4-2) – Navas; Marcelo, Varane, Ramos, Carvajal; Isco, Modric, Kovacic, Lucas Vasquez; Ronaldo, Bale.