Match preview: Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid

Pepe and Costa

Carlo Ancelotti’s first 6 months as the manager of the Los Blancos were not the smoothest times of the Italian’s career, as the manager himself has said that it has taken time for him to find the proper balance in the team. Ancelotti has repeatedly changed shapes throughout this time, and this has majorly involved juggling Ronaldo from the Left of midfield to the Centre Forward and then back to the Left. The manager’s response to these changes has been related to the injury woes to crucial players like Xabi Alonso and Illaramendi.

But now with Alonso well settled in his groove and even Gareth Bale finding a brilliant knack of scoring spectaculars, it is no wonder that Ancelotti’s side is currently the best team in the world. The Italian might have played his final card by shifting to a 4-3-3, and more importantly by playing Angel Di Maria as one of the 3 in midfield.

The lanky Argentine had almost left the club in the wake of Gareth Bale’s arrival, and had been played sporadically on the flanks initially, But Di Maria’s skill and pace on the ball and his tremendous work rate off it was for all to see.

A former Madrid player Mesut Ozil is quite the talk of the town these days, as he is quite often being criticized for his beleaguered work rate after losing the ball. Though this might be much more relevant in the English game, the German star showed a similar attitude while playing at Madrid under the management of Mourinho.

And now to think of it, Ozil and Ronaldo in the same team would have made Jose lose it all, especially now considering that he sold Mata for not contributing much in defencive tracking. This is where Angel Di Maria’s role over the past couple of seasons comes to light. Apart from tracking back completely on his right flank, the Argentine who then played as a winger was often found tracking through the centre too, and this more or less covered Ozil’s tracks.

Di Maria covers marcelo’s tracks too. Most of his tackles are on Farfan down the right

In Ancelotti’s current system Di Maria is deployed as the Left central midfielder and plays adjacent to 2 completely attack minded players: Ronaldo and Marcelo. And as was seen repeatedly in the Schalke game, it was Di Maria who was asked to cover up at the Left Back position when the likes of Farfan and Boateng presented Schalke’s only attacking threat from this channel.

Though Di Maria might just be an energetic option for this season as Sami Khedira will definitely provide better positional sense against bigger opponents, but this stint in midfield also gives the Argentine national team a few more options in midfield.

With energetic and creative shuttlers like Di Maria and Modric in midfield, Madrid now have the comfort of attacking relentlessly with a very high-lined front 3. Such is the attacking nature of Ronaldo and Bale that it is often Benzema who has to drop off to a deeper role to link with the midfield.

This system is quite beneficial for a team who base their play on swift counters, and it is again Di Maria who seems to be the crucial link while getting the ball into the front 3. But neither Di Maria nor Luka Modric are played at the tip of the midfield trio, or the “hole”, as both of them have substantial defencive responsibilities. That means that Ancelotti’s current system does not have a creator just behind the attack, a position Real as tried and flopped with Kaka, and every attack is executed via the brilliance that the Blancos have cutting in from the flanks.

Xabi Alonso’s role becomes crucial here as it is his long balls to the overlapping fullbacks that allow Ronaldo and Bale to cut in. Alonso might have had his easiest game against Schalke as neither Huntelaar nor Max Meyer even attempted to close him down.

This could mostly be because of his extremely deep position between the Centre backs, which now allows the trio of Pepe, Ramos and Alonso to cover the entire defence line and the fullbacks to attack freely.

Despite much of the odds in favor of Real, Ancelotti’s men would be desperate to win this game particularly because of the head-to-head rule of the La Liga. With a 3 point gap currently between the 2 teams, in case of tie of points at the end, it would be Atletico who go ahead of Real on Head-to-Head wins because they won the earlier encounter at the Bernabeu. And now, here again lies a chance for Simeone’s team to do a double over their fierce rivals for the first time in 50 years.

Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid predicted XI

Atletico’s recent poor form could be put down to exhaustion, as Simeone’s usual starting XI has played 31 games this season on an average. With Simeone now requiring a win to keep up the title challenge, it is down to him how he will shape his team to achieve this. Diego Costa goes straight into the XI with Koke, Suarez and Gabi taking their places in midfield.

Arda Turan will return on the right, and Simeone’s only call will be to either choose David Villa as Costa’s strike partner or to go for the extra man in midfield with either Diego or Raul Garcia playing behind Costa. The defence of Miranda, Godin, Felipe and Juanfran cannot be shaken.

After the Schalke game, there were 3 very clear positions and aspects of Real’s game that Atletico need to exploit from the start. The first needless to state one is to place a man on Xabi Alonso. Diego Costa can be visualized to do such a job, as he had endlessly harassed Pepe in the recent Copa Del Rey clash at the Bernabeu.

But Alonso‘s case would be quite different as now he will be having 2 lateral options of Pepe and Ramos to layoff an easy pass. This is where David Villa’s role over Diego could be very crucial. As Atletico play quite narrow and compact wingers, so neither Koke nor Turan are going to press Pepe and Ramos for Alonso’s pass. So there needs to be an option of a 2nd striker to run at such a loose/short pass from Alonso.

David Villa’s presence certainly adds to the goal scorers category, but the Spaniard along with Costa also contributes to the disciplined positioning that Simeone has preached till now. In the reverse fixture, both the strikers were seen taking up almost central midfield roles as they cutoff the passes by Pepe and Ramos into the midfield. But however Real did not have Alonso in that game, and the Spaniard’s presence will surely increase the range of passing.

The other grey area visible in the Schalke game was the freedom Real’s fullbacks were getting on the flanks. Both Marcelo and Carvajal had pushed back Schalke’s wingers Farfan and Draxler respectively, and regardless of the fact that the German team matched numbers in these zones, Real were still getting the space to put in crosses on the overlap.

Atletico on the other hand are seen to be much narrower off the ball and will be more inclined to closing down the gaps in the centre of the pitch. And quite obviously this would again allow Real’s fullbacks time and space. It would hence not be surprising if Ancelotti chooses to go for the more attack minded Carvajal rather than the experienced Arbeloa.

While Koke and Costa have received quite a few accolades for their performances this season, Gabi has been equally disciplined in his midfield tackling. One of Simeone’s traits in midfield is seen when Gabi and Suarez/Tiago close down the spaces in between the midfield and defence lines quickly. This is again going to be very critical in this game, as Ronaldo and Bale look to shoot from such areas.

Though this game is being tinted for Atletico’s discipline and Real’s scintillating attack, it is still a game where Atletico need to get 3 points and Real need a victory get even on head-to-head clashes. In a tactical sense the game comes down to the choice Simeone makes between Villa and Garcia/Diego, as that certainly would affect how much Atletico can contain Alonso, and hence the game.