Madrid: Last season’s Champions League finalists Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid meet for the seventh time this season in today’s Champions League quarter-final, first leg with revenge in mind for both.
Real took the spoils in Lisbon last May as Sergio Ramos’s stoppage time header denied Atletico their first ever European Cup and sent the game into extra time when Los Blancos romped to a 4-1 win.
However, the tables have been turned this season as Atletico have won four and drawn two of the six meetings so far this season.
That run has included two aggregate victories over two legs in the Spanish Supercup and the Copa del Rey.
Yet, it was their last encounter in La Liga in February that was the most embarrassing for Real as Atletico romped to their biggest victory in a Madrid derby for 28 years in a 4-0 rout.
“The last result against Atletico is a motivating factor for us,” said Real boss Carlo Ancelotti.
“It will be a different game, but difficult as it always is against Atletico.
“We come into the game in good form, we are motivated and we will give everything we have.
“I don’t have any doubt that it will be an intense game.
“That will be an important component of the game, but there will also be others that we need to utilise.”
However, unlike that most recent meeting at the Vicente Calderon when they were without five first-team regulars, Real are at full strength for the first time in five months. James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos return from suspension after missing Saturday’s 3-0 win over Eibar which moved Real back to within two points of Barcelona at the top of La Liga.
Meanwhile, Gareth Bale returned to training on Sunday and is expected to fit to start.
Atletico have received a huge injury boost of their own with the news that Mario Mandzukic will be available after overcoming an ankle problem which kept him out of their last two games.
The Croatian has scored 20 goals since signing from Bayern Munich last summer, including two in three games against Madrid at the Calderon.
Raul Garcia is also expected to recover from an elbow problem meaning Diego Simeone will also have a fully-fit squad to choose from.
However, the Argentine has a number of key decisions to make, most notably in goal where the in-form Jan Oblak kept his place ahead of the fit again Miguel Angel Moya for Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Malaga and in central defence where Jose Maria Gimenez and Miranda will battle it out to partner Diego Godin.
The draw at Malaga extended Atletico’s unbeaten run in all competitions to eight games, albeit with four draws along the way.
Most encouragingly for Simeone’s men is the return to goalscoring form of Antoine Griezmann. The Frenchman scored twice at La Rosaleda to take his tally over the last three games to four and move one ahead of Mandzukic at Atletico’s top scorer this season. Meanwhile, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri has called for his team to forget their shock defeat to Parma and turn their focus on beating Monaco in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final today.Preparations for what is the Italian champions’ most crucial fixture of the season have been far from perfect.
At the Enrico Tardini stadium on Saturday a Juventus side missing Gianluigi Buffon and Carlos Tevez among others failed to convert several scoring chances before conceding a 1-0 defeat to a club that entered administration last month after being declared bankrupt.
Although Juve’s title hopes have not been affected -- they now lead Lazio by 12 points with eight games remaining -- Allegri is confident a different Juventus will emerge today when they will be under pressure to seal a first leg victory before the return leg in the Principality.
“I hope this setback serves us well, although I’m sure that we will see an altogether different Juventus on Tuesday,” Allegri said after Saturday’s defeat.
“We’re not used to losing. We were a little listless, we lacked bite and aggression. But now we have to put this display behind us. It would be stupid to let a defeat like this get in the way of our Champions League dream.” The defeat to Parma, who have entered administration and failed to pay their players all season, was Juve’s second reverse of the league season although Juve seemed out of sorts in the absence of Buffon, Tevez and defender Andrea Barzagli.
Buffon, who had an infection, and Tevez, who spent his rare day off at Lake Maggiore, will return to Allegri’s starting line-up for Tuesday as Juve look to take a first step towards securing their first semi-final appearance since 2003 when they beat Barcelona over two legs in the quarters.
While influential Frenchman Paul Pogba is still sidelined with injury, midfield maestro Andrea Pirlo should start on the bench having recently recovered from injury, leaving Claudio Marchisio with the job of orchestrating play towards lively Uruguayan front man Roberto Pereyra, likely to play in the ‘hole’ behind Alvaro Morata and Tevez.
Doubts remain over Barzagli, who is nursing a sore calf. Indeed his availability could determine whether Allegri deploys the 3-5-2 formation he has used sparingly this season or the 4-3-1-2 that saw Juve swipe Borussia Dortmund aside 5-1 on aggregate in their last 16 tie. AGENCIES
