There are few better posters in Spanish football this season than Real Madrid-Atlético. The fear of tactical clashes between the two teams has given way to expansive, scoring and hectic duels. Eighteen goals in three games and the last two matches decided in extra time, in the Spanish Super Cup (5-3 for the whites) and Copa del Rey (4-2 for the red and whites), serve as a stimulating prelude to a duel (9:00 p.m. , Movistar) that closes a trilogy of derbies in less than a month.
Despite the attempt to de-dramatize Diego Pablo Simeone, always refractory to big sentences, the classification puts pressure on Atlético, who starts 10 points behind Madrid, although victorious in the five games following the defeat in Riyadh. “With so many days left, it is not good to think this way,” the coach clarified regarding the decisive nature of the event. “We must simply see it as an important match,” said the Argentine, who also has to watch his back because Athletic (with one more match) has moved within two points. They will face the Bilbao team this Wednesday in the first leg of the cup semi-finals at the Metropolitano, following their bitter complaint regarding having 48 hours less rest (Valverde’s team played this Friday).
Now expansive, these duels have had 18 goals in the last three games and two overtimes
Álvaro Morata, who is coming back from physical discomfort, or Memphis Depay, decisive in defeating Sevilla in the Cup and Rayo in the League, is presented as the great unknown of the Atlético eleven, a team that is looser now in attack, under the light of Griezmann, in comparison with that team used to creating close and oppressive duels once morest the whites. Even so, the last red and white victory at the Bernabéu dates back to February 2016 (0-1).
In Madrid, everyone is focused on Antonio Rüdiger’s left thigh following the impact with Mason Greenwood. If he does not recover, all the options for that possible break would be false: Carvajal, Mendy or Camavinga, as Carlo Ancelotti detailed yesterday. Tchouameni will not be there either due to cards and the daily doubt remains in the goal between the emerging Lunin and the weakened Kepa. No one has had three dates in a row since the rotations were established. The Ukrainian would achieve it if he repeats following his good performances in Las Palmas and Getafe. “Rotating a little is also good for them,” said Ancelotti, who has been tight-lipped in recent times when it comes to bringing forward the elections behind bars.
24 Ancelotti-Simeone duels
The evening in Chamartín opens 10 days indicated in the white agenda, with Girona and Leipzig in the sights. “These meetings are not decisive, but they are important. We mightn’t get any better,” accepted Ancelotti, whose new encounter with Simeone will become the most common of his career on the bench along with that of his compatriot Luciano Spalletti (24 times). “I respect him a lot for his ability to read the games,” the Italian said regarding his red-and-white colleague, with whom he maintains a close relationship.
He was not so kind when they asked him regarding Xavi Hernández’s words, in which the Barça player denounced that the League was adulterated. “I am a professional and I don’t want to go down to this level out of respect for Spanish football,” he concluded seriously.
Nobody has put as much pressure on Madrid face to face as Atlético, the only one that has beaten them this year taking into account all competitions (3-1 in the League and 4-2 in the Cup), and that is now rushing its last league options . That defeat at the end of September in the championship acted as a lever for a white team that has gone one round without falling, resistant to injuries and the absence of signings. This Sunday, the fourth installment of the course and the third almost in a row of a derby now rich in goals.
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