Atletico Madrid will entertain Real Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium this Sunday night as they look to grind out a good result at home. Diego Simeone‘s men suffered a disappointing 2-0 loss away at Bayer 04 Leverkusen in midweek which could lower their confidence ahead of this Madrid derby.
The home team could set themselves up in a 3-5-2 formation with Simeone expected to make a few changes to his starting XI for this game. Thomas Lemar will play from the start in this game while Koke drops to the bench.
3-5-2 Atletico Madrid Predicted Lineup To Face Real Madrid
Defence
Ivo Grbić will operate in goal for Los Blancos after he shipped in a couple of goals in his last outing. Simeone could opt for a back three of Mario Hermoso, Axel Witsel and Reinildo Mandava for this game as they try to keep the Real Madrid attackers at bay during the 90 minutes.
Stefan Savic and Jose Gimenez are still sidelined with injuries, so Felipe will have to settle for a place on the bench as he offers cover for the centre-back positions.
Midfield
Rodrigo De Paul, Marcos Llorente and Thomas Lemar will anchor the midfield for the Madrid giants as they try to put a solid performance collectively in stopping the opposition at the centre of the park. Lemar will have to link up play with others around him, especially when the home side are trying to launch a counter.
Saul Niguez could fill in as a left-sided wide player while José Francisco Molina hopes to catch the eye as the right wing-back. Both of them will have to defend the opposition wingers well inside their half and make some overlapping runs on the counter.
Koke will be available for selection on Simeone’s bench but might come on to influence the game in the latter stages if required.
Attack
Joao Felix will lead the charge alongside Alvaro Morata on the attacking third of the pitch. Both of them need to be sharp in front of the opponent’s goal if Atletico Madrid are to have any chance of securing something from this derby this weekend.
Still, Simeone will be concerned that both of his first-choice strikers failed to find the back of the net versus Leverkusen in midweek.
Antoine Griezmann and Yannick Carrasco will be named on the Atletico bench as they await their chance to shine as the second-half substitutes if needed.
