El Derbi Madrileno Part 2

Just A Reminder, Atletico Have Not Won At The Bernabeu Since 1999

Match: Real Madrid – Atletico Madrid
Date: 07/03/2009
Time: 20:00
Venue: Santiago Bernabeu
Jornada: 26

Let us all be reminded that this non-sense went on at the last derbi, so we are definitely looking to win this game without the help of a late, late penalty on Saturday. Although looking back, it definitely was a penalty, there is no disputing that.

Some pre-match interviews:

Al covered Iker and Leo Franco have a drink at a press conference, find that here.

Sergio Ramos thinks Real can win 2-0, or maybe 2-1.

Higuain chilling with some creep wax dolls for AS here.

Guti gives his two cents about the derbi, the title race and some more stuff here.

Forlan speaks here. Okay, I am done.

Atletico Madrid News:

I expect to see much of the same team that beat Barcelona at the Calderon. That means we are gonna have to deal with an on form Forlan and Aguero. Here is my best guess for the starting 11:

—————-Franco———————
Heitinga—Perea—Ujfalusi—Antonio Lopez
Maxi—Raul Garcia—Assuncao—Simao
————Aguero—Forlan————–

Perea has trained normally this week, so he should be back in the starting lineup in place of Pablo, who was pretty shaky against Barca. Raul Garcia also did not play all that well, so I would not be all that surprised to see Maniche in the starting lineup, although Abel is a pretty defensive minded coach, much like our Juande. So maybe Ever Banega could be handed a start instead of Garcia, who has been disappointing all year. Forlan had trouble training with a muscle spasms, but he is now cleared as well. With very little injuries for Atletico, they can field probably their strongest team against Real, like they did against Barcelona. Pongolle may miss the match, I have not been able to see any firm report on him as of yet.

I think Atletico are probably gonna press us more then most teams do in the Bernabeu. Now you can say, “No shit Sherlock!”, but hear me out. The rest of the league has seen what this team can do to you if you dont press them hard in the midfield and defend to loosely. Betis can attest to this. Even with a 3 man midfield, they decided to let Real knock the ball around in the center of the park, and we were able to find gaps. Also, Betis was not prepared for the use of Higuain on the wing and Raul in the whole, something that while not a surprise for Atletico, will still give them trouble.

So if Atletico wants to be successful in this game, then their wide mids are gonna need to pinch in when they are defending. Most likely Robben will be terrorizing anyone who marks him, but if say Simao can cut out the square pass that Gago or Lass provides if Robben gets in to trouble, then they will be able to stifle most of our offense unfortunately.

Real Madrid News:

Pepe is definitely out due to yellow care accumulation, so Sergio Ramos will most likely replace him in the center. Metzelder is pretty much an after thought at this point, but now the question is, who plays at right back? Many of the papers point to Michel Salgado, because he has been played there in training this week. He had played really well when Juande had first taken over back in December. But unfortunately, he got injured and we have not seen him in awhile. Of course with Sergio Ramos in front of you, its hard to make first team appearances. But I do have hope for Salgado in the derbi. I think he can make an impact, but he will have to curtail his runs forward, especially with the very attack-minded formation I am expecting from Juande (gasp no way!).

The problem is, what the hell is up with Miguel Torres? One of my favorite players, he has yet to play under Juande. Of course he got injured as well, but surely he is a better option then 1. Salgado at right back or 2. Heinze at left back. I have never been disappointed with him, at least defensively, so I dont know where his faults are. Poor training performance perhaps? Or maybe his awful contract is bothering him. I think I did a thing on Torres having a pathetic contract, he was still on school boy terms I believe, and Calderon had promised to improve his contract because he was the worst paid player in the first team, but I dont think anything came of it. Ohh Miguel, when will you return to form?

I see this being the outrageous (for Juande’s standards, this was entirely plausible under Schuster) formation against Atletico:

————–Casillas—————-
Salgado—-SR—-Canna—-Heinze
Higuain—Gago—Lass—Robben
—————Raul—————–
————–Hunter—————

A very offensive team, but Juande needs to look for ways to have the team create scoring chances without being as dominant in the midfield, with an eye on the game at Anfield. I would say that this game is pretty vital to our title chances this year, because if we can get one over a team that beat Barcelona, then its another psychological push for the lads. The game is at 2pm Saturday, and it will be on GolTV. Check our RojaDirecta or Livefooty.org for streams, and I dont think that Steve will have a liveblog up, but dont hold me to it. I will unfortunately be traveling on Saturday, so I think I may miss most of the match. I will be trying hard to get home by 2, but I just dont see it happening. I am gonna try and download the game later so I can watch it, but again, thats iffy unless any of you know a good place to do that.

Lets hope for another Real Madrid. Because lets be honest, Atletico have not won in the Bernabeu since Kun was 11! HAHA HALA MADRID!!!

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Category: Team News