La Liga: Real, Atletico wage war in Madrid derby

Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid
Venue: Santiago Bernabeu
Kick off: 3:15PM

Real Madrid host Atletico Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday (today), looking to take a step closer to clinching the La Liga title.
It’s Match Day 31 in the La Liga and the marquee clash of the latest round of fixtures is the Madrilenian Derby, the repeat of last season’s Champions League final.
Zinedine Zidane’s men come into this match on the back of a gritty 4-2 win at Leganes on Wednesday, as a largely reserve side helped Real Madrid maintain their two-point lead over Barcelona.
The league leaders have picked up form at the right time, winning six of their last seven games in the La Liga.
The visitors, too, are going through a rich vein of form, winning each of their last five league games and climbing to third in the table after leapfrogging Sevilla.
Their last game saw Atletico overcome Real Sociedad 1-0 in a hard fought win, with Filipe Luis scoring the all-important goal.
The reverse fixture saw Real Madrid emphatically beat Atletico Madrid 3-0 in the last Madrid Derby at the Vicente Calderon, with Cristiano Ronaldo grabbing a hat-trick.
Zidane has a nearly fully fit squad at his disposal ahead of the visit of Atletico Madrid with Raphael Varane the only absentee.
The French centre-back is set to be sidelined for a month with an achilles problem after picking up the injury in the match against Alaves last weekend.
Unlike his counterpart in the Real Madrid dugout, Diego Simeone has quite a few injury concerns to deal with, with as many as six players sidelined due to fitness issues for the cross city trip to the Santiago Bernabeu.
The biggest of the absentees is striker Kevin Gameiro, who limped off in training after just ten minutes due to a hamstring problem.
The in-form Frenchman now faces an indefinite spell on the sidelines. Nicolas Gaitan is also out due to a foot injury, with no date set for a return.
Sime Vrsaljko, Tiago, Augusto Fenandez (all knee) and backup goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya (hamstring) are all out with mid-to-long term injuries, and will play no part in the match against Real Madrid.
In Gameiro’s absence, Simeone is likely to stick with the strike partnership of Antoine Griezmann and Fernando Torres, with Yannick Carrasco and Koke providing the support act from the wings.

Real possible XI: Navas, Carvajal, Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo, Modric, Casemiro, Kroos, Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo.
Atletico possible XI: Oblak, Juanfran, Savic, Godin, Luis, Koke, Gabi, Saul, Carrasco, Griezmann, Torres.