Champions League holders Real Madrid face city rivals Atletico on Tuesday in a rematch of last season's final. Last summer Real prevailed against their rivals, clinching their 10th European crown. However, since that lost final, Diego Simeone and his men have not been defeated again by Real in six matches. Atletico beat their rivals twice in the league, including a crushing 4-0 success in february, and also prevailed in the other two encounters over two legs in the Spanish Cuper Cup and Copa Del Rey.
Atletico have not managed to be as impressive as they were last season in the Primera Liga, another title is now out of the question. Their last match was a 2-2 draw away at Malaga, which left Atletico nine points behind the league leaders. The previous round was not easy for Simeone and his team as they needed a penalty shootout to squeeze past Bayer Leverkusen after a 1-1 aggregate draw. Striker Mario Mandzukic should be fit to play after an ankle injury, so Fernando Torres might be placed on the bench.
Real Madrid seem to have recovered after a bad patch which saw them grab just four league points out of 12 last month. They also came close to a shocking Champions League elimination at the hands of Schalke. Now they have snatched three consecutive wins, scoring 14 goals and letting in just one. They are two points behind Primera Liga leaders Barcelona. Gareth Bale is expected to play after missing last weekend's 3-0 win against Eibar. Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez are also available after serving out their suspensions.
Probable line-ups:
Atletico Madrid: Oblak - Gamez, Miranda, Gimenez, Juanfran - Tiago, Koke, Turan, Gabi, Griezmann - Mandzukic
Real Madrid: Casillas - Arbeloa, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo - Kroos, James, Modric- Bale, Ronaldo, Benzema
My prediction: Atletico to win 2-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Atletico win - 2.87 Draw - 3.30 Real win - 2.70
mdacic 8 years ago
I was watching this match and I must tell that Real Madrid deserved more than 0-0. That is not bad result but they had a lot of chances to score and they can't be happy with this score. Bale had the biggest chance, he was one on one with goalkeeper but he shot straight in GK . Ronaldo didn't play well as he know and in...
I was watching this match and I must tell that Real Madrid deserved more than 0-0. That is not bad result but they had a lot of chances to score and they can't be happy with this score. Bale had the biggest chance, he was one on one with goalkeeper but he shot straight in GK . Ronaldo didn't play well as he know and in next match he must play better if Real want to go in next round.
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sharpe 8 years ago
I expect bloody revenge from Atletico for the last years loss at the final. For sure they will throw everything they've got in this quarterfinal. Real is the favorite of course but I think that will be a tough in both games for them. Hope to be an exiting thriller and win for Atletico.
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seculla 8 years ago
Again we will watch interesting Madrid's derby match. It's always interesting between this two teams and lately Atletico Madrid have better score against their tonight's opponents. But I think that in this quarter final Real Madrid are slight favorites but there is always hard to predict when Atletico Madrid is facing one...
Again we will watch interesting Madrid's derby match. It's always interesting between this two teams and lately Atletico Madrid have better score against their tonight's opponents. But I think that in this quarter final Real Madrid are slight favorites but there is always hard to predict when Atletico Madrid is facing one of the best teams in the World.
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Shumar4life 8 years ago
This will be very interesting match between arch rivals. Atletico will try to destroy Real's game through the wings, and Real will try to find out solution for Atletico's passionate play. Both of them will have a lot of problems to achieve their goals, and slighty advantage I will give to Real because they have more quality...
This will be very interesting match between arch rivals. Atletico will try to destroy Real's game through the wings, and Real will try to find out solution for Atletico's passionate play. Both of them will have a lot of problems to achieve their goals, and slighty advantage I will give to Real because they have more quality squad overall
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