La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid Preview, Odds, Prediction

Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid meet in one of the most intense city derbies in the world. Every time these two sides face one another, we see exciting and ferocious battles, lots of yellow and red cards, but some magic on the field as well. It should be no different tonight. Real comes in as a favorite and the leader in the standings. Meanwhile, Atletico is the reigning champion, and even though the Mattress Makers aren’t as confident as before, they simply can’t be underestimated. Diego Simeone’s unit showed that so many times in the last five years.

Preview

Real Madrid (+105) didn’t lose in the past 12 games, and at the moment, rides a nine-match winning streak. They did open the season a bit slower, but Carlo Ancelotti sorted that out in the meantime.

The Italian improved one more aspect of Real’s play, the defense. We’ve seen Los Blancos allowing too many goals, but it appears that it is going to change. They kept four clean sheets in the previous five games. On the other side, the strikers netted at least twice in all but one game during that streak. Furthermore, that was the case in eight of the latest 10 events.

Real has five straight wins at home with a total goal difference of 9-3, beating Shakhtar, Rayo, Sevilla, Bilbao, and Inter in those contests.

Atletico Madrid (+260) defeated Porto on Tuesday night, 1-3, and proceeded into the UEFA Champions League knockout stage. It is a great boost for Simeone’s unit, which has posted pretty mixed results lately. Only four wins in the latest 10 games weren’t exactly what this team had in mind.

All that can change if they win tonight. Though, it will be a great challenge for the guests to triumph at Santiago Bernabeu. They are without several indispensable players, one of them Stefan Savic, who is the heart and the soul of the defense.

Protecting its net has been a trademark of Atletico, but this season, it turned out to be their biggest problem. The Spanish champs had only two clean sheets in the last 10 games. Pretty unbelievable.

Latest News

Gareth Bale won’t play, but that is nothing new. Also Dani Ceballos is out.

Gimenez and Savic, twos starting defenders, are unavailable for Simeone, as well as Sime Vrsaljko. Luis Suarez and Kiernan Trippier are questionable.

Head to Head Matches

Real didn’t lose to Atletico since 2017. They are on a two-game winning streak at Santiago Bernabeu and didn’t allow a goal at home in the past three events.

Prediction

With Atletico decapitated in the backline, we simply can’t miss betting on Real here. They are in one hell of shape, playing at home and against their biggest rivals. It is a perfect chance not only to beat Atletico but to extend their lead over them in the standings. The odds on Real’s win are +105, and are getting shorter and shorter as time goes by, meaning that you need to react fast. Otherwise, you might end up missing a nice chance to profit from this.

Pick: Real Wins