It's that time of the year when bitter rivals meet for bragging rights. Tomorrow, the Santiago Bernabeu will witness another edition of the hard fought Madrid derby where Real Madrid face off against Atletico Madrid with a lot more than just three points on the line.
Real Madrid sit at the summit of the La Liga whereas Atletico Madrid sit third in the table, 10 points behind their eternal rivals.
Last time around, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a sensational hat-trick to silence the Vicente Calderon crowd and helped his side to a comfortable 3-0 win. After a slow start to the season, though, Atletico have steadied their sinking ship to reach the third position on the table.
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Before Simeone became the manager of the Colchoneros, Real Madrid had gone 14 years without a loss at the Bernabeu against their city rivals. That has changed dramatically as the El Cholo have paid four visits to the Bernabeu without a defeat which will give Atletico Madrid a lot of confidence going into tomorrow's match.
This will be Zinedine Zidane's 300th match with Real Madrid (223 as a player, 73 as manager) and he will be looking to make this milestone extra special with a win.
Form guide
Both sides are in brilliant form with Real Madrid winning their last six matches. The Los Blancos won their last league game 4-2 against Leganes with Alvaro Morata scoring a hattrick. Atletico Madrid are also on a brilliant run of their own and have conceded just one goal in their last six games.
The Colchoneros won their last match 1-0 against Real Sociedad with Filipe Luis scoring the winner for them. An exciting game is on the cards as Real Madrid are unbeaten in their last five home games and the same can be said about Atletico Madrid, who are also undefeated in their last five matches away from the Calderon.
Real Madrid – W-W-W-W-W
Atletico Madrid – W-W-W-D-W
*most recent first
Team news
Real Madrid are set to play a 4-3-3 tomorrow with the trio of Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo set to return to the starting lineup after receiving a break in the weekend's game.
Along with the trio, Toni Kroos will return to the midfield after missing the game against Leganes. The likes of Marcos Asensio, Lucas Vasquez and Alvaro Morata will be back on the bench.
Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, will line up like they did in the second half of the Champions League final last season. Antoine Griezmann will partner Fernando Torres up front while Yannick Carrasco and Koke are expected to be on the flanks. Augusto Fernandez, Tiago and Sime Vrsaljko are the long-term absentees for Diego Simeone's side.
Head-to-Head
Overall, the two Madrid sides have played 214 matches against one another. Real Madrid have ended up on the winning side on 109 occasions while Atletico Madrid have won 54 matches. The spoils were shared on 51 occasions.
If we look at the matches played between the two sides since 2010, in 26 encounters, the Los Blancos lead with 14 wins with Atletico winning just seven of the Madrid derbies in the last seven years.
Predicted lineups
Real Madrid: Keylor Navas; Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Carvajal; Casemiro, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos; Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale.
Atletico Madrid: Jan Oblak; Filipe Luis, Stefan Savic, Diego Godin, Juanfran; Saul Niguez, Gabi, Koke, Yannick Carrasco; Fernando Torres, Antoine Griezmann.
Predicted score
Real Madrid 1-1 Atletico Madrid
