Next Saturday, 13th of September 2014, the two Madrid giants, Real and Atlético, will measure forces at the emblematic Santiago Bernabéu for the 3rd round of the Liga BBVA.

The all-powerful Real Madrid have seemed to be struggling to find some consistency so far this season. People might wonder how could a team that spent ridiculous amounts of money signing in new players not have what is necessary to defeat, for instance, teams such as Real Sociedad, who were definitely not going through a very positive moment when they met Real Madrid. Although it might not be an easy question to answer, the truth that it really doesn’t matter if a team has some of most talented players in the World; if one is unable to make them work together as a team, everything else is irrelevant. Their glimpses of geniality are able to solve deadlocks every so often, but when they face a team such as Atlético Madrid and Real Sociedad, who have been maintaining the same game principles and the same backbone for quite some time now, they will not be able to obtain the three points most of the times. This pretty much sums up what is currently happening at Real Madrid, with Carlo Ancelotti experiencing some difficulties to deal with his players’ big egos.

For the complicated match against Los Colchoneros, the Italian manager will not be able to count on Khedira, who is currently sidelined, and he is still not certain if Ronaldo and Carvajal will recover in time for next Saturday’s clash.

As for Atlético, despite their excellent season start during which they won the Spanish Super Cup, the Colchoneros’ performances from that moment onwards have been somewhat disappointing. Last round, the current Spanish champions struggled to defeated La Liga newcomers’, Eibar, by 2-1 and almost conceded the equalizer on the dying moments of the match.

The absence of their charismatic manager, Diego Simeone, from the bench, since he is still suspended for taping the fourth official in the Super Cup match, might be the cause behind Atlético’s less impressive performances, since the players may be missing their leader’s voice of command.

For the match against Real Madrid, the Argentinean manager will probably have all his team at his disposal since there aren’t any names at the medical sheet currently.

The last time both sides played at Santiago Bernabéu was only a few weeks ago for the Spanish Cup first leg and the match ended in a 1-1 draw. For next Saturday’s clash, it is hard to name any favourites, although since they are playing home, Real Madrid might enjoy from some slight favouritism.

Real Madrid

Stats: W-1 L-3 D-1

Recent Form - DLWLL

Atlético Madrid

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - DDWWW

Possible Line-ups

Real Madrid (4-2-3-1) - Casillas - Arbeloa - Pepe - Sergio Ramos - Coentão - Modric - Kroos - James Rodríguez - Ronaldo - Bale - Benzema

Atlético Madrid (4-4-1-1) - Moya - Juanfran - Miranda - Godín - Ansaldi - Mario Suárez - Gabi - Koke - Griezmann - Raúl Garcia - Mandzukic

Prediction

Real Madrid 1 Atlético Madrid 1