El Derbi madrileño: The ‘BBC’ on the prowl to devour Atletico Madrid

Bitter city rivals Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid face each other in a blockbuster Madrid derby on Sunday which might go a long way in determining the Spanish La Liga title. Real Madrid are currently on top of the league on 63 points with 13 games left while Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are on joint second place on 60 points.

Real Madrid can inflict a body blow on their city rivals by winning tomorrow which will leave Atletico six points off the summit and virtually bury their hopes of winning the La Liga since Valencia’s title triumph in 2004. Since then Barca have taken six titles and the remaining three have been claimed by Real, with no other team coming close to disrupting the duopoly.

Atletico stunned their bitter local rivals 2-1 at Real’s own Bernabeu stadium in last season’s Copa del Rey final and followed up with a 1-0 success at the same venue in La Liga at the end of September. However, Real Madrid have greatly improved as the season has progressed and they dumped holders Atletico out of this term’s Copa del Rey 5-0 on aggregate in their two-legged semi-final.

Real Madrid have been in an ominous form since October as they are on a 27-match unbeaten run and their attack is spearheaded by the three-pronged attack of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the most dangerous forward line in world football. The awesome trinity, nicknamed as the ‘BBC’ have already scored an incredible 69 goals between them this season with Ronaldo scoring 35, Benzema 20 and Bale 14. It is not only that the forward line is the only thing to worry about as Real Madrid’s defence have also been water tight and their midfield trio of Alonso, Modric and di Maria suffocating the opponent’s game.

However everyone needs to laud Atletico as Diego Simeone’s low-budget team have exceeded all expectations, maintaining their title challenge and at the same time going strong in the UEFA Champions League. Nonetheless, football fans around the world would be hoping for a cracking match at the Vicente Calderon between the city rivals with so much at stake.