Only a few days after El Clasico, Real Madrid takes on Atletico Madrid in El Derbi Madrileno in La Liga with hopes of taking over second place with all three points.
The first time that these two met this season in La Liga, it ended in a 0-0 draw at the Santiago Bernabéu in a match where Real Madrid had more than enough chances to take all the points. They won’t have that luxury at the Wanda Metropolitano today as Atletico Madrid will not make it easy for them.
One thing that many Madridistas are slightly looking forward to is facing an Atletico side with Alvaro Morata, who signed for them last month.
He’s expected to play and try to prove a point as he did back in his days with Juventus. Having said that, Real Madrid has definitely turned a corner in the past few weeks and has been coming out with some positive results and that includes the draw on Wednesday against Barcelona at the Camp Nou.
They’ll have to continue fighting and believing for the upcoming game and do everything in their power to keep their momentum before their Wednesday match against Ajax in the UEFA Champions League.
📝 Our 20-man squad for the #RMDerbi! #RMLiga pic.twitter.com/5PCGChbP9S
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) February 8, 2019
One major point to keep in mind is that even though Los Blancos played midweek against Barca, Atletico Madrid, on the other hand, have been eliminated from the Copa del Rey and have had a full week of rest and preparation for this game.
It shouldn’t be used as an excuse, but with Real Madrid having come out of a very tough match only a few days ago, things could be a little more difficult for them.
Real Madrid comes into this match with a very strong squad but now have to worry about injuries to a certain extent.
In addition to Jesús Vallejo who has been in recovery for a few weeks, they now add Marcos Llorente and Isco to the list of injuries.
Llorente was taken off during El Clásico with an injured hamstring while Isco had a problem with his back during training yesterday. Therefore, there will be a couple changes to the starting lineup but don’t expect Solari to make any major rotations.
Predicted Starting Lineup:
Thibaut Courtois, Daniel Carvajal, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Reguilon, Carlos Casemiro, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Lucas Vazquez, Vinicius Junior, Karim Benzema