Sergio Ramos, Diego Costa and Prospects of an Explosive Madrid Derby

What a difference a week makes. Last week in France, Real Madrid were trounced 3-0 by a Paris Saint-Germain team missing Kylian Mbappe, Neymar Jr. and Edinson Cavani in the opening round of UEFA Champions League fixtures. Worse was the manner of the defeat.

Real Madrid were sterile. It was the first time this decade—in 578 matches—that the club failed to get a shot on target. The press were calling for coach Zinedine Zidane's head. Jose Mourinho and Xabi Alonso were some of the names being mentioned as possible successors. Redemption, however, has come domestically. 

At the weekend, Zidane bravely fielded an unchanged team—with the exception of team captain Sergio Ramos, who returned from suspension—against Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium, using what Alfredo Relano, honorary president of Diario AS, called "the same 11 little bastards." They repaid his faith, eking out a 1-0 win against league leaders Sevilla at a ground where Real Madrid had lost their previous four encounters.

On Wednesday, Real Madrid followed up the win by defeating Osasuna 2-0—putting an end to the Navarre-based club's 16-match unbeaten streak, their longest in 50 years—to go top of the table. It's been an impressive turnaround.

Zidane is operating with an unbalanced squad. He only has four pure midfielders and one naturally right-sided attacker in Lucas Vazquez. Ballon d'Or-winning playmaker Luka Modric is injured. He's missing Cristiano Ronaldo, and the 50 goals a season he guaranteed, from his first stint in charge. Despite fierce criticism, he has kept faith in the men who won him three European Cups on the bounce. 

"Zidane's mission is complicated, but he knew this when he accepted the offer to return to Real Madrid," said Jaime Rodriguez, a journalist with El Mundo. "He's taking a risk in defending so strongly his old guard, the likes of Isco and Marcelo, players whose level dropped last season. His job is to resurrect these guys' careers.

"Against Sevilla, they displayed signs of reaching the required level, but against PSG, they showed they're vulnerable to a lack of commitment. It's always the way with Real Madrid. With their quality—even without Cristiano—they will always create opportunities to score goals. Zidane's task is to build a team that is strong, with a fighting spirit, that works for each other. He has to do this against a background of a plague of injuries."

Real Madrid have had 65 injuries in 13 months, including a thigh injury to marquee signing Eden Hazard that prevented him from making his full league debut until the Sevilla match.

Zidane has also been unable to get in the key player he wanted (Paul Pogba) and offload some of those he didn't (Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez). He's been pragmatic in reintegrating Bale and James. Loyal soldier Karim Benzema, with five goals in five league games, is stepping up to the plate. 

"There's been a lot of discussion in the media about a 'super revolution' of his squad," Rodriguez said. "Obviously, this hasn't happened. It's very difficult at a big club like Real Madrid to overhaul a squad. To clear out, say, 10 top players isn't viable because it's difficult to persuade them to leave. Isco didn't want to go. Bale didn't want to go. James also didn't have much stomach for leaving. Marcelo as well. These guys have very good contracts, so you can't kick them out if they don't want to go.

"So Zidane has been prudent. He was restricted in what he could change during the summer, so he's had to give his senior players—a generation that has covered itself in glory—a last opportunity to prove themselves. That's his challenge: to scale the heights again with a team that is very similar to the one that won three successive Champions Leagues. It's the great unknown. Can they compete again?"

A lot will hinge on their rivals' performances. Barcelona, after a humiliating 2-0 defeat to newly promoted side Granada on Saturday—the eighth game in a row that Barca have failed to win on the road—are in the middle of a mini-crisis.

After a good start to their league campaign, Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid have been a mixed bag, faltering—drawing three games in a row, including a 2-2 draw at home to Juventus in the UEFA Champions League—and then rising again on Wednesday with a 2-0 away win against Real Mallorca, which keeps them within a point of Real Madrid.

Joao Felix got on the scoresheet for Atleti, picking up his second official goal for the club. It was an important strike, even if it was helped on its way into the net by a wicked deflection. As the club's most expensive signing, a lot of pressure rests on the teenager's slender shoulders.

After dazzling in pre-season with four goals and several assists, his form has been patchy. In Saturday's 0-0 draw against Celta Vigo, for example, he was shuffled around, moving position between both flanks in midfield and then into the No. 10 role before being substituted.

"There has been a debate about the best position for Joao Felix," El Pais journalist Ladislao J. Monino said. "Whether to play him as a second striker or Simeone has been putting him on the left of midfield. And he is making him work a lot in defence, which brings him away from positions where he can cause damage.

"It could happen to him what happened to other quality players under Simeone. At the end, they can be made to look like worse players than they are. Why? Because he gives them a job to defend, which is different than the thing they're good at. There are many examples, like Vitolo, Thomas Lemar and Yannick Carrasco. Footballers who are very technical, with a lot of quality, but in Simeone's system they haven't shone.

"Even when Joao Felix has played away from the wings and behind the strikers, he has found his team-mates can't find him with passes because they lack the quality of, say, Real Madrid's players to pick out passes."

The one ex-Real Madrid player that Atletico have in their ranks is defensive midfielder Marcos Llorente, whom they bought for a reported fee of €40 million during the summer as a replacement for the Manchester City-bound Rodrigo. Llorente has struggled to find his feet, starting only one game against Eibar in which he was withdrawn at half-time. 

"So far he hasn't fit into Simeone's system," said Monino. "It's very difficult to play in midfield for Simeone's Atletico Madrid. Llorente doesn't do well at the time of receiving the ball, and that makes it difficult for him to help the team to play. He gets around the pitch a lot. He's a great engine, which is very good if the team presses the opposition from the front. But if the team hangs back, and that happens a lot with Atleti, it's hard for him to help the team to go forward."

Elsewhere in midfield, Saul Niguez and Koke are crucial for how the team functions, but they are also hamstrung by Simeone's defensive mindset.

"They're two of the team's most important players," said Monino. "They run a lot. They're very good defensively, but often they've nothing left to help the team attack. It's like playing in attack with two players less."

What has been encouraging for Atleti has been the integration of their new full-backs: Kieran Trippier and especially Renan Lodi, who looks like the identikit flying Brazilian wing-back. They've brought some vim back into Atletico's attacking armoury after the departures of the aging Juanfran and Felipe Luis.

Atletico's win against Real Mallorca was also critical for Diego Costa's confidence. He scored his first competitive goal since March, only his sixth goal in 35 league games since returning to the club during the 2017-18 season.

"Diego Costa was a stupendous player with Atletico before he went to England, but he hasn't been the same player since he returned," said Relano. "He's had injuries. He's caused a lot of rows. He's got red cards and suspensions. I don't have faith in him anymore. I know El Cholo does and he could be right, but for me he looks like a player who is unsettled.

"It's true, he's a great battler, which is what El Cholo loves. He's very dangerous, especially in counter-attacks, but without the speed and strength, which he loses when he's not 100 per cent fit, he's not the player he was five years ago."

Costa has, however, shown he can lift his level for big games and especially for matches against Atletico's eternal rival, Real Madrid. The two sides are set to meet at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on Saturday night.

The Spain international bullied Real Madrid's defence to help Atleti win the UEFA Super Cup in Tallinn, Estonia, in August 2018, scoring two goals. And in New Jersey this summer, he knocked in four goals against Los Blancos in less than an hour in a historic 7-3 win.

His battle against Ramos will be worth the entrance price alone.

Follow Richard on Twitter: @Richard_Fitz.