Atletico Madrid are always fired up for the home edition of the Madrid derby, as they forever have a major point to prove against Real Madrid. Atletico incessantly wish to make a statement that La Liga is much more (specifically, it’s them) than the El Clasico duopoly of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
They’ll enter this weekend’s most anticipated match in all of football in very good shape, fitness wise.
El Derbi Madrileño FYIs
Kickoff: Sun. Sept. 29, 8pm, Civitas Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain
Starting XI Predictions: Real Madrid Atletico Madrid
Team News: Real Madrid Atletico Madrid
Form Guide, Standings: Real DWWWW 2nd, 17 pts Atletico Madrid DWWDW 3rd 15 pts
Result Probability: Real 56% Draw 23% Atletico Madrid 21%
Atletico Madrid Team News for the Capital City Derby
Atleti only have three injury absentees here: Cesar Azpilicueta, Thomas Lemar and Pablo Barrios. Other than that, Diego Simeone’s side is fully healthy right now.
Atletico Madrid Starting XI Prediction for the Madrid Derby
Jan Oblak; Robin Le Normand, Jose Maria Gimenez, Reinildo Mandava; Marcos Llorente, Rodrigo De Paul, Koke, Conor Gallagher, Samuel Lino; Julian Alvarez, Antoine Griezmann
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.