Atlético Madrid vs Málaga Prediction - How Will Atlético React To Last Round's Upset?

Next Sunday, the league leaders Atlético Madrid will take on Málaga at Vicente Calderón for round 37 of Liga BBVA on a match of extreme importance for Los Colchoneros, especially after their surprising defeat against Levante last weekend.

No one was certainly expecting that the inconsistent Levante would be able to defeat the highly motivated league leaders last Sunday at Estadi Ciutat de Valencia. Atlético Madrid didn’t manage to properly react to an early own goal from Filipe Luis and ended up by conceding a 2-0 defeat at the hands of a team that had been without a win for the last four matches. At the end of the match, Diego Simeone surprised everyone by claiming that the defeat against Levante was the best thing that could have happened to Atlético after three highly intensive weeks for the club. Last Sunday’s defeat might have worked as a wake-up call for Los Colchoneros, particularly after their impressive Champions League campaign that culminated with a spectacular win at Stamford Bridge last week against José Mourinho’s Chelsea.

The match against Málaga might constitute an excellent opportunity for Atlético’s to bounce back and to return to wins at the expenses of a team that already seems to have shut down the engines for the remaining matches of the season.

For next Sunday’s clash, it is likely that Diego Simeone will have all of the team’s players at his disposal, since there aren’t any names at the medical sheet.

As for Málaga, the match against Atlético will certainly not be a good opportunity for the team to bounce back from two consecutive defeats. At the end of last weekend’s match (which Málaga lost 1-0 against Elche), the team’s head coach Bernd Schuster criticized some of his players by saying that their minds were elsewhere during the match against Los Ilicitanos. The German manager also claimed that from the moment his team reached the 41 points, that granted them sanctuary from relegation, Málaga’s will and motivation disappeared from the pitch.

For the match against Atlético and judging by Málaga’s recent performances, it will certainly not be easy for Bernd Schuster to motivate his players to grab a positive result.

The Argentinean defensive midfielder Fernando Tissone and the Spanish defender Sergio Sánchez will not be able to give their contribution to the team for next Sunday’s match, since they are still recovering from their respective injuries.

When both sides met at La Rosaleda back in January, Atlético Madrid won 1-0 thanks to a lonely goal from the skilled Spanish midfielder Koke.

Atlético Madrid

Stats: W-28 L-4 D-4

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Málaga

Stats: W-9 L-17 D-8

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Possible Line-ups

Atlético Madrid (4-4-2) – Courtois - Juanfran - Miranda - Godín - Filipe Luis - Tiago - Gabi - Turan - Koke -  D. Villa - Diego Costa

Málaga (4-2-3-1) – Caballero - Angeleri - Ferreira - Sánchez - Antunes - Darder - Camacho - Samuel - Duda - Amrabat - Santa Cruz

Prediction

Atlético Madrid 2 Málaga 0