Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid: Complete Positional Breakdown of Liga Derby
Atletico Madrid will welcome crosstown rivals Real Madrid to the Vicente Calderon on Saturday, in what will be the sixth Madrid derby of the season after their five previous meetings across the Spanish Super Cup, the Copa del Rey and La Liga.
It's a pivotal clash in this season's title race in the Primera Division, but it's a matchup that Atletico have had the better of all season. Indeed, Diego Simeone's men have recorded three victories and two draws against the European champions in the current campaign and have conceded just four goals in that time to the continent's most powerful attacking outfit.
Will the trend continue?
Interestingly, the fierce Madrid rivals use formations that aren't all that dissimilar from one another—both teams defend in a 4-4-2 that shifts toward a 4-3-3 in attack as the fourth midfielder pushes up to become a third forward—allowing us to do a position-by-position comparison.
But Real Madrid's task has been made considerably harder. During Los Blancos' clash with Sevilla on Wednesday, both Sergio Ramos and James Rodriguez left the field injured, while Marcelo picked up his fifth yellow card of the season and, barring a successful appeal, will serve a one-game suspension.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti, therefore, has some reshuffling to do, with all three likely to miss Saturday's clash.
Across the following slides, we break down the positional battle ahead of a mouthwatering contest in Spain's top division.
Goalkeepers: Miguel Angel Moya vs. Iker Casillas
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When these two goalkeepers last stood on the same field, it was a night of great contrast for them.
In Atletico Madrid's 2-1 victory at the Bernabeu back in September, club icon Iker Casillas was a lightning rod for criticism as he was whistled off the pitch. At the other end, Miguel Angel Moya, who'd arrived from Getafe for the low figure of just €3 million, looked calm and assured as he played an important role in Atleti's brilliant victory.
Now, the two men are ready to walk out onto the same patch of turf once more, after both sat out the last-16 tie in the Copa del Rey.
For Casillas, his journey since that disappointing evening in September has been a positive one, with the veteran Spaniard enjoying a quiet resurgence in the Real Madrid net. In doing so, he's ended to speculation that had engulfed Los Blancos' goalkeeping position for almost two years.
Moya, meanwhile, has continued to go from strength to strength this season, proving himself to be an excellent addition to the team and has softened the blow of Thibaut Courtois' exit to Chelsea.
Rewind five years and the gap in quality between these two glovemen was vast—Casillas was the undisputed No. 1 at the Bernabeu and a World Cup champion; Moya was playing back-up to Cesar Sanchez at Valencia.
Now, however, there's hardly a difference between the pair. Moya has made up the ground and now makes this battle extremely hard to call.
Right-Backs: Juanfran vs. Daniel Carvajal
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Prior to January, the battle between the two right-backs would have undoubtedly been in Atletico Madrid's favour.
In a truly blistering first half of the season, Juanfran had established a remarkable right-sided relationship with Arda Turan to be the most potent attacking right-back in La Liga as well as being a source of reliability at the back. As a defender, he'd tallied six assists by the end of December—more than Gareth Bale at the time.
But the Spaniard's form has dropped off considerably in the new year, with notable errors against Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano costing his team goals.
As such, Real Madrid's Daniel Carvajal has looked the better of the two right-backs in the last month, excelling in his expansive role and looking fresh after coming back from a three-week absence in November.
Aiding the 23-year-old in the matchup with Los Colchoneros is the absence of a potent left-sided forward in Diego Simeone's XI, which will allow Carvajal greater attacking freedom.
Juanfran, meanwhile, will often be dealing with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Centre-Backs: Diego Godin and Miranda vs. Raphael Varane and Nacho
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Though Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid are renowned for two very different things—defensive excellence compared with attacking brilliance—both teams had possessed an in-form central defensive pairing in the final months of 2014.
At the Vicente Calderon, the outstanding Diego Godin had continued to anchor his side's impressive defence with the help of Miranda and Jose Gimenez, while Pepe and Sergio Ramos had developed an extremely effective sweeper-aggressor style relationship at the Bernabeu.
The situation is a little different now, though.
Atletico have just endured one of their least impressive months defensively in the last two seasons, having watched Barcelona cut the side's back four apart on two occasions. In a similar fashion, Los Blancos have had an array of problems at the back in the new year and now face another one.
During the opening stages of Wednesday's clash with Sevilla, Ramos left the field injured and is unlikely to return for Saturday's meeting with Atletico. With Pepe also sidelined, it means Real Madrid will head into the game with their most inexperienced central-defensive pairing of Raphael Varane and Nacho.
That duo put in a fine performance against Sevilla after Ramos' withdrawal, but the wealth of experience and understanding belonging to Atleti's Godin and Miranda will ensure Diego Simeone's men head into the match with the stronger centre-back pairing.
Left-Backs: Guilherme Siqueira vs. Fabio Coentrao
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While Carlo Ancelotti declared that Real Madrid would look to appeal Marcelo's yellow card against Sevilla that will see him serve a one-game ban, it looks at this stage as though Fabio Coentrao will line up at left-back for Los Blancos.
"Of course we will appeal Marcelo's yellow card, it was not even a foul," the manager said after the clash with Sevilla, per ESPN FC. "Coentrao will be available, as he trained this morning, so I believe he can play on Saturday."
Under normal circumstances, the left-back clash between Marcelo and Atletico Madrid's Guilherme Siqueira would have been a lopsided one favouring Real Madrid. But the likely presence of Coentrao evens up the contest considerably.
Indeed, the Portuguese has endured a stop-start campaign through injury and has made just eight starts all season. In his limited opportunities, he's looked inferior to his Brazilian team-mate and hasn't been able to provide the same attacking punch down the left flank.
Interestingly, his likely opposite number on Saturday has had an indifferent season, too.
Siqueira has often been overlooked by Diego Simeone in favour of the on-loan Cristian Ansaldi (when fit) and was recently replaced by right-back Jesus Gamez (used as a makeshift left-back) for the league clash with Barcelona.
The message on that occasion was clear: Simeone didn't trust Siqueira's defensive game against Lionel Messi and Co.
But for this encounter with Real Madrid, the Argentinian is unlikely to use Gamez (the move backfired last time) and is still without Ansaldi who's struggling with injury.
It means Siqueira is likely to play, and the absence of Marcelo makes this contest a lot closer than it normally would be.
Midfielders: Gabi, Tiago and Koke vs. Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira and Isco
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Of all the positions, it's the respective midfields of Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid that have been truly representative of the contrasting essence of these two teams.
In red, white and blue, it's been all steel. In gleaming white, it's been all silk.
But this season, it's the steel that has consistently won.
Indeed, in Gabi and Tiago in particular, Diego Simeone has two men who've formed a brilliant two-man shield in midfield. Rugged in style and tenacious in their approach, the Spaniard and Portuguese have so often been a wall that Real and other opposing teams haven't been able to break down.
And in Koke, they've got a hard-working companion who's just as sound defensively, but who's also a player capable of pushing forward to set up scoring chances with his passing and dead-ball skills.
Again, that group will feel confident of quelling the threat posed by Toni Kroos, Isco and, on this occasion, Sami Khedira, who's likely to cover for the injured James Rodriguez.
In all five of the meetings between these teams this season, Carlo Ancelotti's central ensemble has been denied space to work with, limiting the effectiveness of the team's midfield "three," who are accustomed to exposing holes with their passing.
If Real Madrid are going to buck the trend against Atletico on Saturday, Kroos and Isco need to find a way to accelerate the game's tempo, while Khedira's presence could help Los Blancos match their opponents for physicality.
Fourth Midfielders/Third Forwards: Arda Turan (or Raul Garcia) vs. Gareth Bale
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This might be the most intriguing positional battle of them all: a contest between players with the most multi-dimensional roles in their teams.
For Atletico Madrid, it's Arda Turan or Raul Garcia who will line-up as Diego Simeone's fourth midfielder/third forward. When defending, either player will drop into the midfield to form a second bank of four, before pushing forward in possession to become a pinch-hitting forward alongside Atleti's pair up front.
On the other side, it's Gareth Bale who performs a similar function for Carlo Ancelotti, but whose mindset is different: attack first, defend later.
What's been interesting in this contest in the current campaign is that it's been Turan and Garcia who have provided a number of the telling moments. In the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup, it was Garcia who scored the late equaliser that was ultimately decisive in Atleti's 2-1 aggregate win. When the teams met in La Liga, it was Turan who scored the winner. And in the Copa del Rey, it was Garcia's penalty that secured a 2-0 first-leg victory.
Bale, meanwhile, has struggled to impact the games against Los Colchoneros, despite his superior talent and greater standing in the game. So often denied space by Simeone's robust outfit, the Welshman hasn't thrived in the tight spaces that Atletico have consistently forced him into.
At the moment, the edge is with Turan and Garcia until Bale changes that.
Roaming Strikers: Antoine Griezmann vs. Cristiano Ronaldo
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When Cristiano Ronaldo steps onto most fields, the gulf between himself and his opposite number is often enormous—Real Madrid's advantage in his position is overwhelming.
For those who haven't watched a lot of Atletico Madrid this season, it would be easy to assume that such a dynamic exists here. But it doesn't. The difference between Ronaldo and Atleti's Antoine Griezmann right now isn't as big as many might think.
Ronaldo is still the superior player, yes. But Griezmann has enjoyed a truly stunning seven-week spell that began with his hat-trick against Athletic Bilbao in late December. In that period, the Frenchman has tallied eight goals and three assists in nine starts and was outstanding in the 2-2 draw between these teams in the second leg of their Copa del Rey clash at the Bernabeu (he assisted both of Fernando Torres' goals and was inches from scoring himself).
That form means Diego Simeone has a dynamic roaming forward of his own, who's capable of punishing Real Madrid in the spaces that are often left behind the Los Blancos defensive line.
Ronaldo, who will return from his two-game suspension for this match, still holds the edge in this duel, but he will need to recapture some of his 2014 form to propel his team past their crosstown rivals.
Primary Strikers: Mario Mandzukic vs. Karim Benzema
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It's very possible that Diego Simeone could use Fernando Torres as his main striker in this encounter, but with Mario Mandzukic fresh from scoring a brace against Eibar, one suspects it will be the Croatian who gets the first chance against Real Madrid (Torres could easily be brought on for the second half, depending upon the situation).
Should Mandzukic start, it will continue an interesting dynamic between him and Karim Benzema: Both men aren't ideally suited to the style of games that often play out between these teams.
For the Atletico striker, the way his team often sits deep against Los Blancos doesn't aid his potent skills in the penalty area and forces him to counter-attack in a style that's unnatural. For Benzema, the congestion he often sees against Atleti prevents him from being the ultimate fulcrum between Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in a swift, free-flowing attack. It all becomes a bit slow and arduous for the Frenchman's game, which is based on creating chances with layoffs and finishing fast attacking moves.
It's why we've seen just one goal combined from Mandzukic and Benzema in the five meetings between the teams this season.
Both men will be eager to change that in this pivotal La Liga encounter.
