Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid Preview

Carlo Ancelotti has been a breath of fresh air at Real Madrid. Yes, I suppose it’s easy to preach when you have effectively secured qualification in Europe and sit at the summit of La Liga…

The Italian manager has celebrated the demands associated with Real Madrid, attesting most of their success (both European and domestic) to the lofty demands and pressures.

Now speaking of pressures, Real talisman Karim Benzema went down injured in Los Blancos’ victory against Sociedad. Naturally questions were always going to be asked but interestingly, the murmurs largely suggested that Ancelotti could have possibly prevented this through squad rotation…for me though, this is a classic example of damned if you do – damned if you don’t.

I was very impressed with Madrid against Real Sociedad, and I think it was the perfect game for them before Atletico. Yes, they played Inter on Tuesday evening…but this is certainly what will be on every Madrid citizen’s frontal lobe.

Sociedad sat in and tried to remain compact and defensively sound, and fair play to them, however, the beauty in Madrid’s victory was their patient performance which would always require moments of brilliance to get the game going. Enter Vinicius Jr! After his brilliant opener, the game had to open and essentially opportunities began to make themselves known.

I know many punters are often only swayed after their due dose of statistics, so here they are: Real come into this game unbeaten in their previous 11 games in all competition. They’ve kept five clean sheets along the way and scored an incredible 23 goals.

But this is a derby and all of that will count for nothing!

What a terrible way to end the year in front of your home supporters. Atletico played their final game at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano and went down to a spirited Mallorca side.

That leaves Diego Simeone’s men in fourth, ten points from the top (albeit it with a game in hand). Atletico were so pedestrian and almost lethargic in front of goal. I mean, they were not short of chances, but they just couldn’t convert anything. When the goal eventually came, it was scrappy – I almost want to describe it as sad…

Simeone is a coach we know that prides himself on the defensive ability of his side. He will want his team to defend for the full 90 minutes without detracting away from their attacking prowess. And yet this is exactly what we’ve seen from Los Colchoneros.

I struggle to see where they will hurt Real Madrid, where will they ask questions or apply pressure on the home side. You know the atmosphere will be electric and Real Madrid – if they have things their way – will want to go gun to tape with pacy and dynamic ball movement coupled only with uncontrolled confidence, building aggression.

Yes, this is a derby. So, expect full employment of the dark arts by the visitors, but I think they will simply be undone by a better opposition. From an entertainment value perspective, I think this should be an incredible match to watch. Atletico are the wounded animal and Simeone has a chance to be the antagonist again – roles which we cannot deny suit both!