the great revalidation of the Royal leader

There is a match that is played before that seems to paralyze the country and they call the ‘Classic’, but the match of the day is settled at 9:00 p.m. and faces the current League champion, Atlético de Madrid, against the current leader of the competition, the Real Sociedad, in the Metropolitan Wanda. This is the true duel in the heights between two contenders who know and fear each other and two coaches who admire each other as Simeone e Imanol. It is the great revalidation of this Royal that has forgotten to lose and that begins to make the lapidary maxim of Luis Aragones, idol for the mattress fans: ‘Win, win, win and win again’. Those of Imanol They have done it so far on a recurring basis against teams destined for other fights, especially avoiding relegation. But if they want to raise their performance and dream high, if they want to break their current glass ceiling, they must start defeating teams like Atlético. They have been 21 games without winning a big one, since the ‘chamartinazo’ of the Cup in 2019. Now it’s time.

La Real has shown that it can be competitive against the greats of Europe, but at the moment it is not enough to defeat them. If today he overcomes that stage fright and vertigo, he will oppose to win, although again he will do so in a very complicated situation and not only because it is against a team that has only lost four of its last 80 league games at home and has enjoyed two more days off. After playing and winning on Thursday in Graz, Imanol does not recover anyone because they do not see prepared to compete or Rico is a Illarra and loses to Aihen by penalty and Zubimendi due to injury, for which he has nine casualties in total, including Oyarzabal. The Gipuzkoans have grown in the face of all the adversities so far and today they have a Miura like Atlético before them, who, in the event of victory, will equal him in the lead with one game less. The colchoneros have the same points as Real Madrid and Sevilla, 17, one less than the surprising second, Osasuna, and three less than the leader, Real, who reached 20 when they beat Mallorca.

System change?

Imanol travels to Madrid without a specific left back. A) Yes, Gorosabel stands as the main candidate to occupy that lane, so it would not be surprising if Imanol I would like to protect him by drawing a line of five behind, with three centrals. That way, in addition, I could align Sorloth next to Isaac above, although it would be at the cost of dispensing with Port and Januzaj. If you keep your usual 4-3-3, things would be clearer: Zubeldia O Guevara, next to Merino and Silva and Port and Januzaj accompanying Isaac, without forgetting Sorloth.

Griezmann in the local trident

In front will be an Atlético who is injured after losing to Liverpool, but who is full of weapons to win. Simeone must dispense with the injured Llorente and Savic, minutiae considering the car of wounded that has its rival. Griezmann, Joao Felix and Luis Suarez threaten to form the offensive trident, with Boil, From Paul and Lemar from behind and with perhaps the best goalkeeper in the world between clubs, cloud, in a Metropolitan at 100% of its capacity.

The stage is ideal to turn LaLiga upside down and leave Barça-Madrid at the height of the mud