Atletico Madrid vs. Las Palmas: Team News, Predicted XIs, Live Stream, TV Info
New stimuli, reinvention and evolution: Those have been the words emanating from the Vicente Calderon in recent months, the summer witnessing a growing sense of expectation on the banks of the Manzanares.
A new Atletico Madrid is coming has essentially been the message. A faster Atletico. A more talented Atletico. A more dynamic Atletico.
An Atletico ready to seriously challenge Real Madrid and Barcelona for the title.
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Whether they can remains to be seen, but you do sense there's something brewing at the Calderon, that manager Diego Simeone is currently blending his best cocktail yet. In have come Jackson Martinez, Luciano Vietto and Yannick Ferreira Carrasco to give Simeone a vastly new-look attack. Elsewhere, Oliver Torres and Filipe Luis have returned after stints away, and Angel Correa feels as close to a new signing as an incumbent possibly can now that he's fully healthy.
Los Colchoneros have never looked so deep, so fresh.
Saturday's league opener against newly promoted Las Palmas, therefore, marks the official start for the new Atleti, following a long pre-season campaign that went as far as Japan and China and featured countless lineups, rotations and experiments.
Interestingly, though, the club's summer campaign showed Atleti's shift in style will be a gradual process across the season, the team still holding onto some of their trademarks amid this evolutionary period, a handful of goals evidence of that.
Against Real Sociedad, the new Atleti showed itself, all 10 outfield players combining in an 86-second passing sequence that culminated in a delightful team goal. Seven days later it was back to aerial dominance, three headed strikes seeing off Real Betis. It's a work in progress.
So then, a meeting with Las Palmas is a nice place to start for Simeone and Co., even if the feeling probably isn't mutual from Las Palmas.
Indeed, after a 13-year absence from La Liga, a trip to the Calderon is a daunting way to begin for the Canary Islands outfit. Though considered a big club in the Segunda, one possessing a passionate fanbase and large stadium, Los Amarillos aren't that in the Primera, and operate in a different world to Saturday's opponents.
At the Estadio Gran Canaria, the squad is packed with locals, they have a yearly budget of €10 million (Atleti's is €120 million), and Sergio Araujo, who the club signed permanently from Boca Juniors this summer after having him on loan last season, is Las Palmas' third most expensive signing in history. At less than €2 million.
Thus, it's going to be a battle for Las Palmas, both in Saturday's trip to the capital and across the season as a whole. But journeys to places such as the Calderon won't define the club's season; it's the meetings with those around them, the relative equals, that will. This weekend is essentially a free hit.
Pleasingly, Los Amarillos will bring entertainment with them to Madrid. Under manager Paco Herrera, the Canary Islanders play attractive, attacking football, the flowing 4-3-3 sort. In Araujo, they possess the second-leading scorer from the Segunda last season and the man who won them promotion with an 85th-minute goal against Real Zaragoza in the second leg of the playoff final.
There's also talent to be found in David Simon, Javi Castellano, Roque Mesa and Jonathan Viera. Experience will be needed, but maybe they can get a good dose of it from the league's oldest player, midfielder Juan Carlos Valeron.
He's 40.
Match Details
Date: Saturday, August 22
Time: 7:30 p.m. BST / 2:30 p.m. EDT / 8:30 p.m. local
Venue: Estadio Vicente Calderon, Madrid, Spain
TV Info: Sky Sports (UK), beIN Sports (U.S.)
Live Stream: Sky Go (UK), beIN Sports CONNECT (U.S.)
Form Lines
| W: 3-0 vs. Real Betis | W: 4-2 vs. Moghreb Tetouan |
| D: 0-0 vs. Cadiz | L: 0-1 vs. Rayo Vallecano |
| W: 2-0 vs. Real Sociedad | L: 0-1 vs. Tenerife |
| W: 3-0 vs. Shanghai SIPG | W: 2-1 vs. Maritimo |
| D: 1-1 Sagan Tosu | W: 3-0 vs. Laguna |
| W: 2-0 vs. Real Oviedo | L: 0-1 vs. Tenerife |
Team News
Simeone has a full squad to choose from for Saturday's clash, his team having come through the pre-season period without incident and completely unscathed.
Consequently, this match will give us a good indication into what sort of XI Simeone considers his strongest going into 2015-16, with decisions to made on most lines.
In attack, Martinez will likely start alongside Antoine Griezmann, even though the Colombian is yet to reach full fitness. Behind them, a midfield of Koke, Saul Niguez, Yannick Carrasco and Gabi would be a good bet, the always pragmatic Simeone likely to use a 4-4-2 from the opening whistle before potentially flirting with a 4-3-3 (the new-look system that featured in pre-season) later in the game. The manager's choice of goalkeeper between Jan Oblak and Miguel Angel Moya will also be intriguing.
For Las Palmas small alterations will need to be made, given Herrera will be without goalkeeper Javi Varas and midfielder Emmanuel Culio due to suspensions carrying over from last season.
Raul Lizoain will step in and take the gloves, while loan signing Willian Jose could line up on the right, flanking Araujo along with Viera in a 4-3-3 system.
In midfield, Castellano, the man who played almost 4,000 minutes last season, will anchor the XI, while the experienced left-back Javier Garrido, who's arrived from Norwich this summer, could make his Las Palmas debut.
Predicted Lineups
In the Spotlight
Though he's not the only new face at Atletico Madrid this summer, Jackson Martinez is the headline act. The drawcard.
Strong, powerful, lethal and South American, Martinez continues the club's lineage of such strikers that's included Diego Forlan, Sergio Aguero, Radamel Falcao and Diego Costa. In the shifting of style at the Calderon, it's Martinez who's crucial, who provides the dynamism, athleticism, to lead an outfit that's looking to embrace and build upon those exact qualities.
But while the striker will need time to adjust to Atleti and Simeone, Atleti and Simeone don't have time to give him: Following Saturday's match against Las Palmas, they travel to Sevilla's fortress, the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, before hosting defending champions Barcelona at the Calderon.
A hot start is needed. Martinez needs to hit the ground running.
Odds (via Odds Shark)
Atletico Madrid: 1-4
Draw: 9-2
Las Palmas: 11-1
