On the evening at 10 p.m. in the evening, perhaps the most interesting match of this season will take place in the Spanish "La Liga" championship - two neighboring rivals from Madrid will face each other. Madrid's "Atletico" team hosts Zinedine Zidane's coached Madrid "Real" footballers at the "Wanda Metropolitano" stadium, who are currently at the top of the league table with 14 points. "Real" along with Bilbao "Athletic" are the only teams that have not yet tasted defeat in the country's championship this season. "Real" has four wins and two draws. Just one point behind Z. Zidane's players are "Atletico", who won their first three matches in a row. Later they suffered a defeat and played one draw. In essence, a draw in the first Madrid derby of the season would not be a bad result for both teams, but a win for the "Real Madrid" team would further increase their advantage. Nevertheless, "Atletico" will try to avoid that and, if successful, could return to the leader position. In the last matches, both teams secured a win - "Real", at home, beat Pamplona's "Osasuna" 2-0, and "Atletico" defeated "Mallorca" by the same margin. Despite media speculation about changes in the "Real" coach's seat, Z. Zidane has been performing impeccably lately - neither with "Osasuna" nor with "Sevilla", the leaders of the championship, did their opponents score a goal. After starting in the UEFA Champions League, where three goals were conceded in Paris, the criticized "Real" team has improved their defense so much that in the last two matches, opponents have not been able to make a shot on goal. In addition to the aforementioned wins, "Real" also defeated Vigo "Celta" and Valencia's "Levante" this season. The other two matches ended in draws with "Villarreal" and "Real Valladolid". There have been no significant changes in "Atletico" since last season - the team concedes relatively few goals, and so far, in attack, there seems to be more potential than actual results - only seven goals in six matches. Diego Simeone's team had a great start to the season - both "Real" and "Barca" initially dropped points, while "Atletico" won over "Getafe", "Leganes" and "Eibar" in the first three rounds, albeit all with a minimal advantage. After the match against "Eibar", where two goals were conceded, "Atletico" fell into a small pitfall - a painful defeat to "Real Sociedad" and a goalless draw with Vigo "Celta". In their starting lineups, no major surprises are expected - both coaches should choose lineups that have been usual for them lately.
Among the hosts, due to a red card received shortly after coming on as a substitute in the match against "Mallorca", Alvaro Morata will miss the derby, while D. Simeone has no other major problems. In the "Real" team, as usual this season, many players are dealing with injuries, but this week Luka Modric, Marcelo, and Isco trained with the team. Long-term injured Marco Asensio and the weekend's injured Felandas Mendy will certainly not be able to help the team. Despite Luka Modric being fully recovered, it is believed that alongside Casemiro and Toni Kroos, James Rodriguez will play, gaining more and more trust from Z. Zidane with each match. Projected lineups for the teams: "Atletico": (4-4-2) Jan Oblak; Kieran Trippier, Stefan Savic, Jose Gimenez, Renan Lodi; Koke, Saul Niguez, Thomas Partey, Thomas Lemar; Joao Felix, Diego Costa. "Real": (4-2-3-1) Thibaut Courtois; Dani Carvajal, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Nacho; Casemiro, Toni Kroos; Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Eden Hazard; Karim Benzema.
