(Football news) Real Madrid have won their last 5 games. The 5th one was an incredible 5-2 win at Anfield against Liverpool. Now they will face arch rivals Atletico Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. Los Blancos are currently 8 points behind Barcelona and need to keep winning games. Atletico Madrid on the other hand are unbeaten in their last 6 La Liga games. They are 4th on the table just 2 points behind Real Sociedad. Having been knocked out of Europe and the Copa Del Rey, the Rojiblancos are fully concentrating on La Liga unlike Real Madrid who will also be thinking about the Copa Del Rey semi final against Barcelona on Thursday. 

Real Madrid have a couple of injury issues. Rodrygo and David Alaba picked up injuries against Liverpool and are not available for selection. Ferland Mendy is still missing but Aurélien Tchouaméni is back as is Mariano. Carlo Ancelotti has already confirmed that Nacho will start the match at left back. Luka Modric has started 2 games in a row so he could be on the bench with Toni Kroos returning to the starting line-up.

Fede Valverde is likely to play on the right wing as Ancelotti has a lot of options in midfield but even Marco Asensio is waiting for his opportunity. Ultimately the Italian will have to look at the fitness levels of the players more than anything especially with the Copa Del Rey semi final against Barcelona coming up.

Atletico Madrid will be without Rodrigo de Paul and Thomas Lemar. Stefan Savic is back from suspension and could return to the starting line-up. Real Madrid are likely to have a lot of control while Atleti will be very compact in defense. The biggest strength of Diego Simeone’s side is that they can break up the play regularly which is something that Real Madrid have struggled with. Vinicius Jr and Karim Benzema will once again be the key for Real Madrid. It will be interesting to see what system Diego Simeone goes with as he changes things up a lot.

Also read: Sergio Ramos reluctantly retires from international football