On this evening in the capital of Spain an intriguing confrontation will take place - two Madrid teams will clash for important points in the Spanish "La Liga" championship.
Madrid's "Atletico" will face off against "Real" in front of their fans. This will be the first clash since "Rojiblancos" moved to a new stadium - "Wanda Metropolitano". The match will start at 21:45 local time in Lithuania.
Sporting form
It's difficult to assess the current sporting form, as there has been a national teams break worldwide for more than a week, but neither team showed miraculous play before it, so an unpredictable battle can be expected in the "Atletico" fortress.
Before the national teams break, "Atletico" had a rough patch - with only two wins in the last five matches and three draws. In the last matches, Diego Simeone's team finally broke the streak of three consecutive draws by defeating "Deportivo" by a narrow margin.
Prior to that, "Atletico" drew with "Villarreal" and "Elche" in Spain, and could not beat "Qarabag" in the Champions League. In all these five matches, the Madrid team did not score more than one goal - scoring only one goal in each match.
"Real", the future opponents of "Atletico", also faced serious difficulties - losing to "Tottenham" in the Champions League and unexpectedly conceding a defeat to "Girona" in Spain. Two prior matches ended in victories of 2-0 and 3-0.
The situation of the teams in the league table is identical - both "Real" and "Atletico" have 23 points and are behind the leader "Barcelona" by a margin of eight points. Due to a better goal difference, "Real" is currently in a higher position - third place.
Both "Real" and "Atletico" do not shine in the attack this season - Zinedine Zidane's team scored 22 goals in the "La Liga" championship, and "Atletico" - 16. However, Diego Simeone's team can boast a much better defense, having conceded only six goals so far this season.
Team news
The national team break was a welcome sight for Diego Simeone - Yannick Carrasco, Koke, and Filipe Luis have recovered from their injuries. "Atletico" does not have any absentees before the upcoming Madrid derby, so they can field their strongest lineup.
On the other hand, Z. Zidane will surely miss Keylor Navas and Gareth Bale in the derby. The good news is that Dani Carvajal and Mateo Kovacic are finally returning to the squad. Isco, who suffered an injury during the national team break, is fit and ready to help his team.
Predicted starting lineups:
"Atletico": Jan Oblak; Juanfran, Stefan Savic, Diego Godin, Filipe Luis; Saul Niguez, Thomas, Gabi, Koke; Antoine Griezmann, Angel Correa.
"Real Madrid": Kiko Casilla; Dani Carvajal, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo; Luka Modric, Casemiro, Toni Kroos; Isco; Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema.
Interesting facts
This will be the 161st Madrid derby in the "La Liga" championship. "Real" have won more than half of the city derbies - triumphing in 86 matches.
During the last eight matches in the Spanish championships derbies, "Atletico" lost only once. This happened last season when "Real" crushed their rivals 3-0 in their own stronghold.
In the last eight matches against "Real", "Atletico" achieved four victories and had to settle for draws three times.
"Atletico" failed to defeat their biggest rivals in the Madrid derby on two occasions when the first matches were played in their new stadium - they drew 0-0 at "Vicente Calderon" fortress in 1967 and lost 0-3 at the old "Metropolitano" stadium in 1929.
Diego Simeone's team is most vulnerable to "second floor" goals this season - "Rojiblancos" have conceded five headers out of six.
The attacking stars of "Real", Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, are experiencing a goal drought in the "La Liga" championship this season - both players have scored only one goal each so far.
