Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid [P+R]

[Adi]

Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid

Big game in Spain this Saturday.  Will Madrid beat Atletico as confidently as Barcelona did?

I predict a 3-2 win for Real Madrid.

[TAHA95]

i dont think madrid can beat atletico,i predict a draw

[Riley]

hmm 3-0 to Real Madrid! Hala Madrid  van der vaart nistelrooy and raul to be the goal scorers

[^_^]

I'm sure Real will take this game home, 2-0. Van der Vaart is on fire right now.

[manutd.]

3-0 Madrid;
Van der Vaart (2)
Van Nistelrooy

[^_^]

Van der Vaart probably won't score 2 in a game like this.

[moby]

i think Madrid will win by a small margina maybe 2-0

with robben and nistelrooy

[Tito]

La Liga Preview: Atlético Madrid - Real Madrid
What: La Liga BBVA, Matchday 7
Who: Atlético Madrid (7th, 9pts) vs Real Madrid (5th, 13pts)
When: Saturday, 18th October 2008, 2000 CET
Where: Estadio Vicente Calderón, Madrid

It’s the 143rd edition of El Derbi Madrileño and very likely to be dubbed the Redemption Derby. It has been a testing week for the two Madrid clubs, and the city in general, as the issue over racism and crowd violence in the country spills into overdrive.

The Week That Was

What a tumultuous few weeks it has been for Atlético Madrid. Just a month ago, everything was rosy for the rojiblancos. They were charming fans and pundits all over the world with their delightful football, they were starting to look like genuine title contenders, their collection of star players were finally coming good and it seemed as though nothing could go wrong for them.

But it did… all in a space of around a fortnight.

On the pitch, they suffered their first real setback of the season when they slumped to a 0-2 home defeat to Sevilla three weeks ago. That was promptly followed by the 6-1 annihilation at Barcelona, a much-hyped and much-talked about encounter which they lost inside the opening eight minutes.   

If that wasn’t enough to send the club into a tail spin, they then had to face the scrutiny of the world when UEFA decided to not only ban the team from playing at the Vicente Calderón in their next three Champions League home games, but the European football governing body also suspended coach Javier Aguirre from taking the bench for the next two matches due to unsporting behaviour.

Although Atleti have since been allowed to host Liverpool at the Calderón this coming Wednesday in Europe’s blue-ribbon competition, all these distractions and bad publicity off the pitch cannot be good for the team’s morale as they attempt to recover from the horror show at the Camp Nou.

A Royal Pain

Ofcourse, Real Madrid were not completely immuned from their fair share of controversy over the past few days, although for once, the issue was instigated by someone else and club themselves played no part in it.

Earlier in the week, the English Football Association publicly announced that they will refuse an invitation for an international friendly against Spain if the game were to take place at Madrid’s own Santiago Bernabéu, citing the possibility of racial abuse on their players as the main reason.

Just goes to show that sometimes, trouble follows you wherever you go. But this is something that should not bother the men in white nor affect their performance on the pitch, although it has struck another blow to the club’s image and reputation following their infamous absurdities during the summer transfer window.

On the field, however, they did suffer a minor hiccup a fortnight ago. After putting together a phenomenal six game winning streak throughout the entire month of September, they stumbled to a 2-2 draw at home against Espanyol in a match where they had to come from behind twice to salvage a point.

The blip in the result and the performance is hardly a matter of life and death – or in Madrid’s case, emergency meetings – but it did put a dent on the momentum they had been hoping to carry forth into this clash.

Redemption

The derbi could serve as the perfect tonic for both teams to bounce back in style. And the best way to silence the critics is to let the football do the talking and by putting on a real exhibition on the field.

Both sides will be eager to get back on the winning trail as quickly as possible to prevent the leading pack from skipping any further ahead and to avoid their confidence sliding any further down. But more importantly, they need that extra injection of morale to take with them to their respective daunting Champions League excursions next week.

As the luck of the draw would have it, the two capital clubs have the most enthralling fixtures of Matchday Three. Los Colchoneros, ofcourse have that mouth-watering battle with a Fernando Torres-less Liverpool while Los Merengues will travel to Turin to take on one of their fiercest and oldest continental rivals, Juventus.

Those are the kind of match-ups that would normally distract any team from their domestic duties on any other week. But such is the significance of El Derbi, from a historical standpoint to the proverbial bragging rights on offer to the obvious three points at stake, that the build-up to those European midweek games has been shoved to the back seat.

But by the end of the 90 minutes at the Vicente Calderón on Saturday, there can be only one who will walk off the field with a true sense of redemption. Trouble is, both of them want that luxury.

FORM GUIDE

Atlético Madrid

Oct 04 FC Barcelona 6-1 Atlético (LA LIGA)

Oct 01 Atlético 2-1 Marseille (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE)

Sep 28 Atlético 0-2 Sevilla FC (LA LIGA)

Sep 24 Getafe 1-2 Atlético (LA LIGA)

Sep 20 Atlético 4-0 Recreativo Huelva (LA LIGA)

Real Madrid

Oct 05 Real Madrid 2-2 Espanyol (LA LIGA)

Sep 30 Zenit St. Petersburg 1-2 Real Madrid (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE)

Sep 27 Real Betis 1-2 Real Madrid (LA LIGA)

Sep 24 Real Madrid 7-1 Sporting Gijón (LA LIGA)

Sep 21 Racing Santander 0-2 Real Madrid (LA LIGA)

TEAM NEWS

Atlético Madrid

The good news for coach, Javier Aguirre is that trio Maniche, Simão and Diego Forlán have all won the race against the clock to regain full fitness and they will be available to be called upon.

The other trio of Pablo Ibañez, John Heitinga and Maxi, on the other hand, weren’t so lucky as they continue to nurse their injuries and look unlikely to recover in time. Sergio Agüero and Luis Amaranto Perea, meanwhile, have only just returned from their CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers and they would have taken part in only one training session prior to kick-off.

The Mexican trainer will be tempted to rest El Kun but this being the derbi, the player himself has already demanded to be put on the pitch.

Probable Starting XI (4-4-2): Coupet – Seitaridis, Perea, Ujfalusi, Antonio López (c) – Luis García, Assunção/Maniche, Raúl García, Simão – Agüero, Forlán/Sinama-Pongolle

Real Madrid

Midfielders Mahamadou Diarrà and Guti are both sidelined after failing to recover from their respective ailments. Fernando Gago, just back from a thigh injury himself, has been confirmed as the Malian’s replacement in the first eleven.

Dutch winger Arjen Robben was set to make a comeback after shrugging off his thigh muscle strain but the club doctors have advised against rushing him back and he has thus been omitted from the squad.

Leftback Marcelo returns from a one match suspension and he should replace Gabriel Heinze at leftback following the Argentine’s heavy involvement in the World Cup qualifiers. Fabio Cannavaro is often rested whenever he is involved in any midweek outings but Schuster may be reluctant to maintain that philosophy, given the magnitude of this clash.

Probable Starting XI (4-3-3): Casillas – Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro, Pepe, Marcelo – Van der Vaart, Gago, De la Red/Sneijder – Higuaín, Van Nistelrooy, Raul (c)

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Real Madrid

Raúl was the hero for Los Merengues against Espanyol two weeks ago, netting a double to help avoid an embarrassing defeat. But he also has an amazing scoring record against Atleti, having notched up 11 goals so far to become the top scorer in the derbi’s history. But there’s this criticism that he is rarely able to string two good games together these days. This will be his chance to disprove that theory.

Atlético Madrid

Agüero and Sinama-Pongolle may be key forwards in the team in the last few games but their fitness and condition will come into question following their midweek participation with their respective national teams. Diego Forlán on the other hand, has been well rested for weeks after just recovering from his injury and he will be fresh, fired up and eager to impress on his return.

PREDICTION

The recent history, statistics and head-to-head record absolutely do not favour Atleti. For starters, it has been almost exactly nine years since they last managed to beat El Real, home or away.

Whether or not that sequence will extend to ten years will depend solely on Aguirre’s game plan. If he adopts another reckless, offensive approach, chances are his side will be sunk and possibly humiliated again… maybe even before the eight minute mark.

On paper, there’s not much to choose from between the two sets of players. However, the reigning La Liga champions do have more tactical knowledge and flexibility as well as the big-game experience. But often in matches like these, they may not matter that much once the real football gets underway and all the training lessons go straight out the window. It could all come down to one single piece of individual brilliance to settle the contest.

[cigar omar]

I don't think Atletico will loose that badly again. Last weeks loss was a one off thing Atletico where just having one of those days I wasn't a sign of how good Barcelona where it was more a sign of how bad of a game Atletico had aswell as some vital calls such as the penelty going against them, if you look at the replay it was a clear dive.

As for this game Madrid will take it 2-1. 

[TheGodEmperor]

real won 2-1 with goals from van nistelroy, higuain, and simao

[Adi]

That referee was terrible. He sent off Ruud for no good reason. It should've been a yellow but nothing more.

Ruud scored 30 seconds into the game and VdV scored with about 30 seconds left in the game. I'm glad Madrid won even though I usually support the smaller team in these types of games. Madrid should've been up 3-0 in the first 15 minutes.

[^_^]

What a great comeback tough; Atletico scored an awesome freekick in the 86th, but Drenthe did well to exploit the backline and get a penalty in the 90th. Hala Madrid :thumbsup: