Fierce rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid will square off at Santiago Bernabeu tonight, with the fans set to witness an enthralling encounter. The teams enter the Copa Del Rey quarter-final first leg in different mood, but we can safely say neither side will lack motivation for such a high-profile game.

Real Madrid marching on

Everything’s changed at Real with the arrival of Jose Mourinho and after quite a while, los Merengues are still in the race for all three trophies midway through the season. The summer signings proved to be a major hit, especially Angel Di Maria and Mesut Ozil, and together with ever impressive Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso, they have led the team to some great results this term. Los Merengues even found a way to recover from the embarrassing defeat to Barcelona and they are still going strong in all the competitions entered, meaning they have to be considered favourites against underachieving Atletico. The hosts will try to finish the job in the first match, so don’t expect them to stop attacking if they take the lead.

Alvaro Arbeloa returns after serving a suspension in La Liga, while Pepe and Dudek are considered injury doubts. Gonzalo Higuain remains the only long-term absentee.

Terribly inconsistent

This season is slowly turning into an utter disappointment for los Colchoneros as they still cannot find the cure for the inconsistency. Quique Sanchez Flores’ side don’t look capable of notching few good results in a row and that is the main reason while the team are still far away from meeting their expectations. Away performances are another problem, as witnessed by the 4:1 defeat in Alicante three days ago, meaning Atletico don’t have much to hope for from this match. There is no doubt the visitors will be very motivated to record a good result against the fierce rivals, but that is definitely easier said than done.

Diego Forlan has returned into action against Hercules but he lacks some match fitness and could again start on the bench, while new signings Juanfran and Elias could be handed a dream debut at the Bernabeu.

Verdict

Real Madrid have won all 14 home games this season, most of them with few goals to spare, so I wouldn’t bet against them doing the same to struggling Atletico. Los Colchoneros are simply awful on the travels and they should be happy if they still have an active result after this game.

Our prediction: Real to win by two goals or more

Odds: 1.80 (4/5)

Bookmaker: 888Sport