City rivals Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid clash on Saturday at the Vicente Calderon stadium in the first edition of the Madrid derby this season. Last season the two rivals have met on three occasions and Real Madrid won the most important of the clashes: the Champions League final. However, Real Madrid have not been able to beat Atletico in a league match since 2013, with Atletico securing a win and a draw against the Blancos last season and two league wins two seasons ago.
Atletico Madrid have lost two of their last three league matches and dropped to fourth place as a result, six points behind leaders Real Madrid. Both of those losses have occurred on away matches, 1-0 at Sevilla and 2-0 at Real Sociedad right before the international break. Head coach Diego Simeone will have to do without Alessio Cerci and Augusto Fernandez, both injured, while star striker Antoine Griezmann picked up a knock while on international duty with France. The Frenchman should be able to play though.
Real Madrid remain the only unbeaten side in La Liga this season, with eight wins and three draws. They have not lost any matches in the other competitions either, but last time out in the Champions League they produced a surprising 3-3 draw at Legia Warsaw. The Blancos have a two-point lead at the top of the table over Barcelona. Toni Kroos and Alvaro Morata are out of contention and will be for quite some time, Casemiro is also unavailable, while Karim Benzema and Pepe might have to play despite recent knocks.
Probable line-ups:
Atletico: Oblak - Juanfran, Savic, Godin, Luis - Niguez, Koke, Gabi, Carrasco - Gameiro, Griezmann
Real: Navas - Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo - Modric, Kovacic - Bale, Isco, Ronaldo - Benzema
My prediction: Atletico to win 3-2.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Atletico win - 2.50
Draw - 3.30
Real win - 2.90
11/24/16, 07:11:42 PM
