CAN GRIEZMANN, RONALDO OR BENZEMA START SCORING?
It’s scarcely plausible that we’re deep into November and Real’s forward pairing of Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo have only scored one league goal each, and the struggles ensured by his strikers is naturally a major issue for Zinedine Zidane ahead of his team’s first ever trip to the Wanda Metropolitano.
But there are similar concerns on the other side of the fence because Atlético superstar Antoine Griezmann has also been in poor form, failing to score in La Liga for two months and managing just two goals in nine games so far this season.
Griezmann’s difficulties are exacerbated by the lack of other serious goalscoring options within Atlético’s squad, with only four-goal Angel Correa managing more than one solitary strike among the forwards. And that, at least, is something Zidane has fewer concerns about, with the likes of Marco Asensio, Isco always capable of scoring from their midfield berths.
Nevertheless, neither manager should have to rely on back-ups and players of such proven quality as Griezmann, Ronaldo and Benzema surely won’t allow their barren runs to continue for much longer. The question of which will be the first to regain top form will go a long way towards deciding tonight’s outcome.
Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo
ARE ISCO AND MODRIC FULLY FIT?
Los Blancos fans were left holding their collective breath earlier this week when key midfield orchestrator Isco was forced to miss Spain’s friendly against Russia with a thigh injury sustained in last weekend’s meeting with Costa Rica. And those concerns were further magnified when another key man, Luka Modric, missed Thursday’s training session due to illness.
Isco and Modric were arguably the most important players in Real’s double winning campaign last year and their absence would be a major blow to the supply lines for Ronaldo and Benzema.
Zidane claimed in his press conference on Friday that both players are fit and available, but there’s a big difference between fit and fully fit, and a team as physically intense as Atlético would be sure to pounce upon any physical frailties in their opponents.
Isco and Modric will almost certainly both start, but whether they will be at their best and able to dominate the home team’s formidable trio of Saul, Gabi and Koke is another matter.
Luka Modric (R) and Isco
DO ATLETICO DARE SEIZE THE INITIATIVE?
In many respects, Real Madrid look like they are there for the taking. Their strikers are out of form, two of their key midfielders have missed training this week, their first-choice goalkeeper (Keylor Navas) is out injured and they have suffered a series of setbacks as a result of poor performances in the last few weeks.
Considering all those factors, you’d think the obvious thing for Atletico to do, especially as their brand-new stadium welcomes its first Madrid derby in what is sure to be an electric atmosphere, is to go for the jugular and try to kick their city rivals while they are down. But the big question is whether Atletico will dare themselves to do so.
Although his achievements with Atletico have been undeniably magnificent, there’s a growing sense that Diego Simeone struggles to instruct his team to seize the initiative rather than play on the back foot. It’s part of his mentality to assume the down-trodden, under-estimated underdogs role, and he is therefore naturally averse to embracing the tag as favourites even when his team logically merits it.
Tonight is one of those occasions where you’d wish Simeone and his Atletico players would just trust themselves to be the aggressors and take the game to their opponents, rather than sitting back and playing on the counter-attack. But it’s unlikely that they will.
Diego Simeone (R) and Zinedine Zidane
