La Liga: It’s Derby Day in Madrid – Again!

Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid

La Liga hosts the Madrid derby this Sunday – Los Blancos versus Los Rojiblancos.

Believe it or not, this will be the third meeting already since the turn of the year between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.

Despite that, there will be reduction in intensity as two city rivals clash and bid at the Bernabeu for hard-earned points and La Liga highlights.

Talking Points

Although Real Madrid have long been the big boys of the Spanish capital, they have been tested like never before by Atletico over the past decade or so.

In fact, manager Diego Simone has given them some of the best times in their history since arriving at the end of 2011.

Of course, the love affair between Los Blancos and Carlo Ancelotti has long been written into their DNA too.

Both teams were in action in La Liga in midweek.

Atletico defeated Rayo Vallecano 2-1 in the derby clash at the Civitas Metropolitano.

Presumably with a visit to their rivals in mind, Simeone made several changes from the victory over Valencia, with the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Rodrigo De Paul and Alvaro Morata only on the bench.

They opened the scoring when Reinildo Mandava headed home his first goal for the club from an excellent Rodrigo Riquelme cross.

Rayo Vallecano levelled through a fine Alvaro Garcia strike and, as home frustrations grew, Simeone turned to Griezmann, De Paul and Samuel Lino.

They left it late but Memphis Depay netted a last gasp winner, 10 minutes after having a goal disallowed by VAR, from a Griezmann cross to spark delight and relief among the home support.

The next night, Real returned to the top of the table with victory at spirited Getafe, led by a Joselu double for a sixth straight league win.

History

Historically, Real have the distinct edge as you would expect.

This includes the 2014 and 2016 Champions League Finals.

Earlier this season Atletico turned the tables and recorded a 3-1 home win.

On that occasion, a poor refereeing performance detracted somewhat from the contest but should not take away from Atletico’s showing, led by a Morata double and a Griezmann header to seal a 3-1 victory.

Real then got the better of their city rivals a few weeks ago in Saudi Arabia in a thrilling Supercopa de Espana semi-final.

There were eight goals and many talking points as Real emerged 5-3 winners after extra-time.

The game had everything including a record-breaking Griezmann wonder goal and the sight of Jan Oblak chasing back from the Real Madrid half in a vain attempt to catch runaway Brahim Diaz who netted the final goal of the game.

Ultimately, Griezmann’s goal – his 174th goal for the club, one more than Luis Aragones who had held the record as the club’s top scorer since 1974 – was a consolation.

He gained some revenge though with the decisive third in a 4-2 success around a week later when Atletico knocked their rivals out of the Copa del Rey in another exciting tie.

Lino pounced from close range to put Atletico ahead before Oblak knocked Luka Modric’s free-kick into his own net to hand Real a leveller.

Morata put Atleti ahead again before Joselu headed in Jude Bellingham’s 82nd-minute cross.

Into the additional 30 minutes and Griezmann cut in before firing home from a tight angle in the 100th minute and Riquelme netted the fourth.

Those goals took Simeone’s men into the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.

This league contest ended 1-1 last term with Jose Maria Giminez’s opener cancelled out by Alvaro – although 10-men Atletico held out for a point.

The last time Atletico won at the Bernabeu in the league was in 2016 when Griezmann netted the only goal.

Betting Tip

It’s an ideal time for Real to make another statement in the title race and they are backed to do so with the SBOTOP La Liga betting odds, both 1X2 @ 1.66 and Asian Handicap -1.00 @ 2.25.

Atletico are very much on the fringes with 1X2 @ 3.74 and Asian Handicap +0.75 @ 1.96.

A re-run of this game from last season will pay out @ 7.20 with Correct Score 1-1.

After the two meetings last month, how can you not expect a goal fest such as Total Goal 4-6 @ 2.84 or Over 3.00 goals @ 2.14, in contrast to total goal 0-1 @ 4.01 or 2-3 @ 1.98.

I think there will be goals but not as many as the eight and six we witnessed a few weeks back.

The 1X2 Draw @ 3.74 has crossed my mind but I am going to opt for First Half Asian Handicap Real Madrid -0.50 @ 2.31 as my *** tip.

 

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