In this week 17 match, on Sun Dec 12th, Real Madrid hosts Atlético Madrid in a meeting of these two closely matched La Liga teams in the anticipated Madrid derby. Weather on match day is looking like a cloudy and cool day, with daytime temperatures of only 8 degrees, so hopefuly the match makes up for the weather. 1st placed Real Madrid is fresh off their 2-0 shutout win against Inter. Toni Kroos struck first for Real Madrid in the 17th minute on a feed from Rodrygo, then Asensio added another in the 79th minute on a feed from Carvajal In the end, Inter was frustrated by Real Madrid’s defence and couldn’t put any tallies on the board. Real Madrid ended the match with the shutout victory. Real Madrid is on a hot streak lately, having won 9 of their last 10, while in their last match, Atlético Madrid recorded a 3-1 win against Porto. Antoine Griezmann struck first for Atlético Madrid in the 56th minute, then Ángel Correa added another in the 90th minute on a feed from Antoine Griezmann. Atlético Madrid is looking for direction having earned 15 points in their last 10 matches.
These two teams have not yet played each other this season, so it will be interesting how the match turns out. Last season Real Madrid won the head to head battle with 1 win.
Both Matheus Cunha and Ángel Correa have been the hottest scorers for Atlético Madrid in the last five each having scored 2 goals each. Real Madrid’s top weapon lately has been Karim Benzema, who has three goals in the last five matches
Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid squad will be without Dani Ceballos, Eden Hazard and Federico Valverde, while João Félix, Kieran Trippier, Renan Lodi, José Giménez, Yannick Carrasco and Ivan Šaponjić are unavailable to play for Atlético Madrid.