Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid

Atleti rested a couple of players for their draw against Malaga and so did we in our win vs Eibar

Atleti are in bad form right now and moral might be running high now after Barca drew one of their last 3 tough games of the season to give us a glimmer of hope of winning the league after 3 seasons without winning it in a row. Also Fusbal can stop comparing Song to Ronaldo then

Carvajal, James, Pepe, Marcelo, iker, Benz, Kroos, Modric and Ramos all rested in varying lengths. We need an away win because without a good home result Atleti are useless and will be forced to attack against us which should open up some space for our players. Here is hoping Bale doesn't make it in time but he will who am I kidding

Most probable line up:


Think we will win this time but dont think it will be a goal from open play. Either a set piece or penalty imo

athetico never met out best 442 that bale not in it.

we been pathetic against them all season long, i can forget about the past loss against athetico, we had given another shot by drawing them, carlo pls, for once, this round, field the right team.

modric and james not even catch up their previous prime form yet, but they'd been already so decisive, nothing can be wrong...

I think Modric is more than ready, James needed the Eibar game to improve his fittness but it wasn't to happen unfortunately but he will be fresh and I think the whole team knows how important this game will be

I hope Benz has a good game because when he has it doesn't really matter whether Bale's on the pitch. Ronaldo looks to have gotten out of his slump just at the right time too. Can't wait for him to score against them and do the calma celebration

According to Cope Bale is a doubt for the Atleti game as he has an overload in the left bicep

Also after a reporter asked Carlo who would play between James and Isco he said both could play

halamadrid2 wrote:According to Cope Bale is a doubt for the Atleti game as he has an overload in the left bicep

Also after a reporter asked Carlo who would play between James and Isco he said both could play

It's happening

Apparently not.
http://www.marca.com/2015/04/12/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1428838051.html

The comment section is identical to we are saying so the feelings are mutual between all Madrid fans it seems. 442 with Isco and James

And fof the love of god why is that dude always available this season feck sakes

I think we can win this. But we're going to need to approach this game differently, tactically speaking. If we're going to stubbornly stick to the same game plan that has turned out to be fruitless in the past against them, we're heading for something similar to our recent encounters with them. If Bale is going to play (and it looks like it), he'll have to defend / track back like his life depend on it.

Carlo needs to produce a masterstroke here.

Simeone has one and only strategy in dealing with Real Madrid. Carlo knows this but somehow he hasn't changed his. This time, he must come up with a diabolical approach.

We are literally the only team in Spain that hasn't learned anything when it comes to playing Atletico so I think I can be forgiven for not having any real hope on winning this tie.

I do hold on to the fact that Carlo is an intelligent manager and our players have shown in the past they can step up when it really matters.

An interesting bit regarding Bale's availability from Carlo's press conference today:

Carlo Ancelotti wrote:If Bale isn’t, then he won’t play as I have a great squad. If a player is not match-fit, then they don’t play

We do know Bale is match-fit, yet Carlo hinted he might not feature.

Boys, there's a slight chance we might see Bale on the bench tomorrow. Can I get an Amen?

#incarlowetrust

dat finally benching on despair time, shinning like the gandalf dawn light with rohan knights.

seal the fans support for a decade


carlo the real master of mind game

i'm quite confident about this game, as people have mentioned here, i can't wrap my finger around how atleti have been able to beat us, not just this season but even last year and the year before in the copa final. i think its a question of intensity, we can't let them intimidate us with their physical strategy. Kroos and Modric will be key, if they can control the pace then we can get a stellar result....i've watched a lot of atleti games and based on what i saw, i was stunned at how they beat us last time around. they are significantly weaker than last year, bit somehow carlos keeps letting simeone outmaneuver him....if we score first tomorrow, we have the game, i truly believe that....but with carlo (who i still strongly support), sometimes one just never knows

Confirmed lineup: Casillas, Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo, Kroos, Modric, Bale, James, Ronaldo, Benzema.

Sooo so unlucky. The ball just doesn't want to go in

Bale having another stinker get him out of there please

Varane ffs

We will get the goal next next half I think

My god! How are we not 0-2 up? This is so unfair and so frustrating.

I cant believe isco came on in the 75th minute and bale managed to stay on. What's with Arbeloa coming in for Carvajal

I dont wanna hope for an injury but its getting increasingly difficult not to with bale because no matter how he plays he still manages to stay on and for a tall dude he is really crap at winning headers

No marcelo for the return leg



Also benz for the love of god shoot sometimes especially when in acres of space in the penalty box

I think Benz expected players to rush to him in open space as opposed to stick to CR. He doesn't play with a scorer's mentality when both CR and Bale are on the pitch... and it's by design unfortunately.

Carlo has to ask him to go into scoring mode like he was when Bale was out EVEN WHEN Bale is in. When you ask him to play predominantly a playmaker role, he's too unselfish. He's still unselfish when asked to be a scorer so you might as well push him to have that mentality.

I hate to belabor the point... but Bale coming back has really messed up how we play and the form of our players. Roles aren't well defined and we're lopsided to boot.

Ramos was horrible and Iker almost bottled it. Other than that, everyone other than Bale was ok to good imo.

Ramos, as usual, gave me cancer. And Bale has once again showed every Madrid fan he can be on the pitch for 90 minutes and you'll not notice him.

Bale's crap form has been so commonplace that it is honestly boring seeing him play dog shit and look forward to when he sinks lower and/or actually has a decent game. Not good or great, decent.

My lack of faith remains pretty much lacking but we did considerably well from the last visit at the Calderon.

no marcelo against team like athetico gonna be very hard for us on 2nd leg. that's really bad.

Didn't think Marcelo was adventurous in the first half and thats when we had our best period. I think we can manage for one game without him

This game was a great advert for la liga especially with no BPL teams in the CL.

We really should've scored in the first half. I hope we don't regret it. As for the Bale chance, that was stopped by a great block. I'm more disappointed with Benz. I genuinely hope/think he didn't know how much space he had, but most of our team almost instinctively think :'give it to Ronaldo' & I hope that didn't play a part in this.

There's no way we'll keep a clean sheet in the second leg.
2-1 to us.

We had 3 clear cut chances against Atletico.. that is as far as we were going to create against them.  

Bale shot is just how a GK will expect him to shoot. Plain bad finishing and great goalkeeping combined.

Benzema was a freaking joke. Both were massive chances and even a 12 year old could read his moves before 5 seconds. What the hell was that ? Benzema's record against Atletico is steeping into new levels.

I really don't know how to feel about this huge problem we have in hand. So much problems that we could easily get rid of had we a less stubborn manager:

1. Bale is a liability and as long as he's fit, he'll play.

2. Marcelo will miss the second leg.

3. Varane will likely be benched for the return leg, which is a crime against humanity after his world-class performance last night.

4. Unless we make sure to not miss the few clear-cut chances we're going to get against Atlético, which is impossible if you have someone like Bale in your team, the 4-3-3 won't work.

So to sum everything up: We're trying to qualify to the semi-finals with a visibly unconvincing 4-3-3 formation with a huge liability in Bale, without Marcelo, and possibly without Varane too.

We could field our 4-4-2 formation and put this game to sleep in the first half, but noooo..

The tie is still 50 -50, but my god! We're helping Atlético qualify so much without even trying.