Atlético Madrid vs Real Madrid Preview

August 14, 2018
By: Daniel Orme

 Local rivals Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid go head to head on Tuesday evening as they contest the UEFA Super Cup at the A. Le Coq Arena in Estonia.

The two Spanish giants will go head-to-head to contest for the first European trophy of the season.

Real Madrid head into the game in a confident mood. The UEFA Champions League winners have won three out of the last four UEFA Super Cups, so could well be favourites yet again. That’s the opinion of bookies, William Hill, who offer odds of 6/4 for Los Blancos to win, whilst Atletico possess odds of 15/8 and a draw can be backed at 11/5.

One aspect that Julen Lopetegui’s men will have to improve on if they are to taste glory is their defending. The European champions did not keep a clean sheet throughout any of their pre-season fixtures. As a matter of fact, Real Madrid have only kept one clean sheet in their last 12 competitive games. Both teams to score can be backed at 4/5 with BetVictor, whilst Atletico Madrid to score at least one goal is available at 4/11.

Despite Real Madrid’s fragility at the back in recent months, they have history very much on their side as they head into the game. Diego Simeone’s men have only won eight of their last 44 games against their historic rivals.

A huge influence behind Real’s success against Atleti has been mercurial forward Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese superstar has found the net 22 times in 29 games against them – only against Getafe and Sevilla has he scored more. However, they will be without the services of their club record goal scorer following his big money move to Juventus over the summer.

Therefore, Gareth Bale is one of the favourites to open the scoring in Tallinn, according to the bookies. The 29-year-old has only ever scored once against Los Rojiblancos but that solitary strike came in Real’s 4-1 win the 2014 UEFA Champions final. He has odds of 9/2. Another player who has developed a slight habit of scoring at Atleti is Sergio Ramos. He scored in the 2014 and 2016 European finals. The defender can be backed at 25/1 to hit the opening strike with William Hill.

Meanwhile, Antoine Griezmann is the most likely to open the scoring for Simeone’s troops with odds of 7/2 with William Hill.

Elsewhere, Lopetegui has a few injury concerns to contend with for the game. Alvaro Ordiozola, who signed from Real Sociedad in the summer, has been ruled out with a thigh injury. However Jesus Vallejo could potentially return in time. Conversely, Atleti have a clean bill of health going into the game despite the likes of Luciano Vietto, Šime Vrsaljko and Kevin Gameiro all departing the club in recent days.

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