Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid meet in a match in the 23rd round of La Liga. The duel between the two rivals will be played on Saturday, at 15:15 on Wanda Metropolitano.
The two representatives of Madrid are in the third straight duel this season. The first was in the Super Cup of Europe, played in Tallinn, where Atletico was forced after extensions, with the score of 4-2 (2-2). In the championship, the two bands recorded a “white draw” on Santiago Bernabeu, the game in which the Real dominated all chapters and showed no less than 7 yellow cards.
At 6 points behind Barcelona, Diego Simeone’s band is coming out of this confrontation after a surprising failure in the championship, 0-1 on the field at Betis. Sergio Canales scored the 11-th goal after Filipe Luis unleashed the ball with a brilliant counterattack from the left, but the ball went wide. That failure interrupted a series of 18 games in a row without defeat in La Liga.
In this duel, the hosts will not be able to count Stefan Savic, being injured, while Diego Costa and Koke are uncertain.
If his rival is 6 points away from the first position, the Real can overtake Atletico in the ranking in case of a success on Wanda Metropolitano. “Galactica” is coming to this match after the draw in the first half of the Spanish Cup semifinals, 1-1 on Barcelona, the goal of the guests being scored by Lucas Vazquez in the 6th minute. That was the 6th match in a row without defeat for the band prepared by Santiago Solari (5 wins).
Probable teams:
Atletico Madrid: Oblak – Arias, Gimenez, Godin, Hernandez – Correa, Rodrigo, Partey, Niguez – Morata, Griezmann;
Real Madrid: Courtois – Carvajal, Nacho, Ramos, Reguilon – Modric, Casemiro, Kroos – Vazquez, Benzema, Vinicius Jr;
Javier Estrada Fernandez, the center of this party, is one of Spain’s toughest officials. The last match at the center was Valencia and Getafe, in which they showed no less than 12 yellow cards, two of which led to a elimination. In 6 of the last eight games he has arbitrated, he has offered at least 6 yellow cards.
With such a referee at the center, a derby between Atletico and Real can end with a high number of yellow cards, as happened in previous direct disputes this season, showing no less than 15 cards , minimum 7 in each game. In the previous meeting on Wanda Metropolitano there were 8 warnings and it is also expected that this duel will benefit from a high number of yellow cards.
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1.80
