Atletico Madrid – Real Madrid

Atletico will play cautiously and Real Madrid without Benzema. Should we bet on "total under"?

On Sunday 18 September, Atletico take on Real Madrid at home. Carlo Ancelotti's side have had no problems at all in the new season. Real Madrid have won every single match. The team has had an easy time dealing with adversity. Madrid have managed to lose Casemiro, but he has so far been successfully replaced by Tchouameni. Karim Benzema's absence has had no impact on the results. Without the Frenchman, Real have already secured two victories. They managed to beat Mallorca, and then in the Champions League, they demolished RB Leipzig. That said, the match against the Germans was very difficult. Leipzig created enough chances at Courtois' goal. Objectively, it was implementation that let them down. Without Benzema, Real Madrid had to find other ways to score. The attacking game only improved towards the end of the second half. Madrid were not significantly stronger than Leipzig overall, but extended their winning streak to nine games. Real remain the only club in Europe's top leagues with no losses at all. Karim Benzema is not expected to return anytime soon. Ancelotti will need to look for options. The Frenchman will definitely not play before the international break. Real also have their main central defender Militao and rotation player Lucas Vazquez out. Madrid have some difficulty with the depth of their squad, given the age of their leaders. In the match against Leipzig, Ancelotti gave Kroos a break, but Modrić, for example, did not get the same privilege. Atletico have traditionally had a tough start to the season in recent years. Diego Simeone's side have lost games each in La Liga and the Champions League. In the Spanish championship, Villarreal were the offenders, while in the European Cup Atletico were held back by Bayer. The Germans were better at exploiting their own chances. Once again, Atletico did not have many chances. Antoine Griezmann's situation continues to have a negative impact on the team. The Frenchman is out strictly after the 60th minute in every match. If the press is to be believed, Atlético do not use the player in the starting line-up in order not to further buy him out from Barcelona. In fact, Madrid are minus one player in attack. According to advanced statistics, Atletico are playing at a mid-table level in the Spanish league. The team had nowhere near the strength of their defense. The Indians are ninth in terms of the number of chances taken near their goal. A difficult staffing situation has an impact. At the moment, Atletico are without three key players in defense. Savic and Jimenez are out. In addition, newcomer Regillon is unable to play. The Spaniard was also taken under the main squad. In the Madrid derby, there are rarely many goals scored. Atletico often operate in a very closed formation. Without Karim Benzema, it will be difficult to crack the home team's bus. It's not going to be a very productive game.