After a goalless draw last week, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid left the outcome of their duel entirely for the match at Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid is set as the favorite by the bookies, but Los Blancos have won just once over Atletico in the last 9 games between the two teams, and this win was in the extra time of the final of the Champions League.
Gareth Bale and Luka Modric received injuries in the match of the last round of La Liga and miss the second leg. Marcelo is suspended, and doubts in the squad of Real are Benzema and Coentrão. Surely, those are serious problems for Carlo Ancelotti, but Real`s fans expect their team to break the bad series against the city rivals.
Real Madrid conceded only 2 home losses this season, but one of those was precisely by Atletico Madrid. If anyone knows how to beat Real Madrid star team, this definitely is Diego Simeone. Under his management the Rojiblancos are being really impressive. During this season, Atletico haven`t conceded a goal in 7 of their last 8 matches of the Champions League. The current champions of Spain, however, are experiencing some problems in away games recently, as since the beginning of the year, Atletico achieved 3 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses in away matches of the domestic league and the Champions League.
The road to title defense for Real passes through victory over perhaps their most uncomfortable rival in recent times. Undoubtedly, we can expect an exciting clash full of emotion and hopefully many goals.