Real Madrid: 5 players who must shine against Atletico

CAM Isco

Isco needs to step up. James Rodriguez is back in the lineup and has looked more likely to provide killer passes to his teammates and the end product Real Madrid need in the No. 10 role. The Colombian has always been an excellent player, and, sooner or later, Zinedine Zidane will be forced to reckon with his talent.

But Zidane still prefers Isco, who, when on his day, is one of the best attacking midfielders in Spain. He’s shown his quality in a few games this season, but there have also been just as many games where Isco has been anonymous.

Matchweek 22 can’t afford to be one of those games. The stakes are always too high against Atletico, and they will do whatever they can to suffocate the middle of the park. It’s up to Isco to lead the way in the attack and find the tight spaces, while threading balls to create real chances for the forwards. He is a key to victory, assuming he starts.

RB Dani Carvajal

Exploiting the wide areas of the pitch will be important for Real Madrid, since those are the only areas of the pitch Diego Simeone leaves some space. That puts the onus on the fullbacks to get forward to support the attack and provide crosses into the box that the forwards can actually use.

Dani Carvajal has supplied as many assists as Toni Kroos and Luka Modric this season with four, and he does a particularly good job of finding Benzema’s head in the box. However, the quality of his deliveries on early crosses can be lacking, and those are the types of balls Carvajal may be forced to play on Saturday.

Defensively, Carvajal won’t have too many questions asked of him, but how sharp his passing and control are could mean the difference between one point and three.