Real Madrid face a stern test as the league leaders take on Atletico Madrid in the Madrid derby at the Cívitas Metropolitano (9pm CET), in the last game before the international break. Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid will meet for the first Madrid derby of the season while both of the teams will arrive into the match with a number of absences. The Whites go into the clash on the back on five wins on the bounce in the competition, along with two in the Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup triumph.
“The derby is a special game and that’s how we’re approaching it”, said Ancelotti in the press conference ahead of the clash. The squad was also visited during the preparations by Florentino Perez. The president wished the coaching staff and players all the best for this very important game.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side are in a rich vein of form and will be looking to keep their winning run going in this evening’s Madrid derby. The Whites are the only team to have won all five of their LaLiga fixtures so far this season (three of which came on the road), scoring 15 goals in the process (three per game on average). Madridsitas are in a head-to-head duel with Barcelona that is reminiscent of those high-scoring leagues of the teams led by Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, where any dropped point was a catastrophe.
Los Colchoneros, for their part, do not want to fall out of the top half of the table, as they currently occupy seventh position, in a season that has not started in the best of ways for them not only in La Liga but also in Champions League. After taking two successive home wins against Porto and Celta Vigo, Atletico were defeated away at Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday. Diego Simeone’s team is surely aiming for the best result as they will have their fanatic fans behind them in great numbers for the whole game.
For Real Madrid, the absentees are fewer in number, but perhaps more important. There was a little hope anyway at Real Madrid about Karim Benzema's recovery, but that was dashed when the Frenchman did not train on Saturday morning, and his absence was confirmed in the squad list published a few hours later.
The forward has been out for three games following his injury against Celtic, and it is hoped that he will be available after the international break. Lucas Vazquez is the other first-team player that Carlo Ancelotti will not be able to count on. The Spaniard suffered an injury four days ago to his right thigh. This has led to the inclusion of Alvaro Odriozola in the squad, who, barring a surprise, will act as a reserve right-back, with Dani Carvajal starting.
Diego Simeone's side have four players on the treatment table, but they do have one piece of positive news: the return of Jan Oblak, who has missed the last two games. The absences of Thomas Lemar and Sergio Reguilon come as no surprise, as they continue their respective recovery processes for muscular ailments.
There was hope for Stefan Savic and Jose Maria Gimenez, but the two defenders will once again be out of action. The derby will be the sixth game that the Montenegrin has missed, while the Uruguayan will be out for the third match in succession.
Predicted Atletico Madrid XI (3-5-2): Jan Oblak; Axel Witsel, Mario Hermoso, Reinildo; Nahuel Molina, Marcos Llorente, Koke, Rodrigo De Paul, Yannick Carrasco; Alvaro Morata, Joao Felix.
Predicted Real Madrid XI (4-3-3): Thibaut Courtois; Dani Carvajal, Antonio Rudiger, David Alaba, Ferland Mendy; Luka Modric, Aurelien Tchouameni, Toni Kroos; Federico Valverde, Rodrygo Goes, Vinicius Junior.
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