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Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid match preview
Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid match preview

Real Madrid take on Atletico Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu tonight looking to exorcise the ghosts from last season’s final heartbreak.

Los Blancos succumbed to defeat a 2-1 to their city rivals for the first time in 14 years last May in the final of the Copa del Rey, ending Jose Mourinho’s chances of landing any major silverware in his final season in charge.

Months later, Diego Simeone’s men were back on the same ground, this time in La Liga. And DIego Costa’s solitary goal ensured new boss Carlo Ancelotti tasted defeated for the first time in his first ever Madrid derby. With those two painful defeats to draw on, Ancelotti shouldn’t need much to motivate his troops to ensure they make their third Copa del Rey final in four years.

And they come into the game on a 21-game unbeaten streak, dating back to the 2-1 loss to Barcelona at the Nou Camp in October. Indeed the 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao at the weekend ended a run of 11 straight wins for Ancelotti’s men in all competitions.

Cristiano Ronaldo is available for selection in the derby despite his sending off at the weekend. He will serve his suspension in La Liga matches only. And more good news for Madrid is the return of Gareth Bale from injury. Ancelotti has a full squad to pick from other than long-term absentees Raphael Varane and Sami Khedira. Iker Casillas is expected to take his place in goal.

Los Colchoneros will be bouyed coming into the game though, having opened up at gap at the top of La Liga. Diego Simeone’s men now had a three point advantage over Real and Barcelona. Arda Turan, the dangerous winger, should be back for the visitors having recovered from injury.

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Copa del Rey final facts and figures

Real Madrid take on Atletico de Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final tonight at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Los Colchoneros come into the game flying high at the top of La Liga and having the upper hand on the hosts in recent games. Los Blancos were beaten on their own turf in last season’s final by Diego Simeone’s men. It was their first win over Real for 14 years, stretching back to 1999.

Proving that the Copa del Ret final win was no fluke, Atletico beat Los Blancos at the Bernabeu in La Liga back in September, inflicting a first defeat as boss for Carlo Ancelotti.

Despite the setbacks in recent times, Los Blancos go into the game tonight as favourites at 10/11. Ancelotti seems to have found the right system, and the defence, breached just once in nine games, will be a tough nut to crack. The visitors are backed at 11/4 to win, while a draw is available at 13/5.

With Cristiano Ronaldo and Diego Costa on the pitch tonight, there is potential for goals galore. But three of the last four Madrid derbies have produced under 2.5 goals, so that may be tempting for punters at 10/11.

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Florentino Perez, Real Madrid president

Florentino Perez has said the Copa del Rey semi-final between Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid will be a special occasion for everyone in the Spanish capital.

Speaking at an event with his counterpart Enrique Cerezo to celebrate the upcoming fixtures at the Santiago Bernabeu and Vicente Calderon, Perez said that despite a deep rivalry, the two clubs are also great friends. He also spoke about football’s power to unite people supporting different teams.

“We all know that football has a great ability to seduce us and to generate excitement. Furthermore, both Atlético Madrid and ourselves know that football exists to bring people together, not to separate them. This is another semi-final between the two teams from Madrid. We will have a very difficult opponent, because Atlético are having a great season,” he said.

Perez added: “We are playing a club who are our friends, even though we have a great rivalry. Tomorrow, Madrid will be the winner, because tomorrow is a special day for football.”

Tributes were also made to former Spain boss Luis Aragones, who died at the weekend. The man who guided his nation to glory at Euro 2008 was an Atletico man through and through, and Perez was glowing in his praise for Aragones.

His words were also echoed by Ana Botella, the city mayor, who said: “I would like to give my condolences to the family of Luis Aragonés. Luis was a reference point. The wise man from Hortaleza. I am convinced that there could be no better homage than the semi-final which starts tomorrow. We are all very sad that this bad news has come too soon.”

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Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been suspended to a three La Liga matches ban by the Competition Committee, following his red card against Athletic Bilbao.

If the sanction had been for four or more games, the Portuguese would have missed the Copa del Rey semi-finals against Atletico Madrid, but with this scenario the ban will only affect his participation in the league.

Thus, Carlo Ancelotti will miss the Ballon d’Or winner for the clashes against Villarreal, Getafe and Elche.

Real Madrid tried to appeal the red card, claiming the referee made a mistake in the match report. The club stated Ronaldo was provoked by Gurpegui when the ball was in play, while the referee wrote he “attacked Gurpegui when the ball was not in play.” Moreover, Ayza Gamez also wrote Ronaldo made a gesture to the assistant referee, but the pictures show this assistant was not even close to Ronaldo.

In the last minute, Ayza Gamez was called by the Competition Committee and he changed his version, claiming he showed Ronaldo the red card for his dispute with Ander Iturraspe. Real Madrid were given a deadline to make a new appeal, but finally the expected three-match ban was confirmed.

* Follow Alejandro Gonzalez on Twitter @alejandrognieto

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Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid meet again in an exciting Copa del Rey semi-finals tie. Carlo Ancelotti will have the chance to get revenge on Diego Simeone, who defeated Los Blancos’ manager in the Italian Coppa a few years ago.

It was in 2000. At that time, Simeone was playing at Lazio and Ancelotti was in charge of Juventus, where Zinedine Zidane was the star. Both teams met in the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Juventus earned a 3-2 victory in the first leg. However, that advantage seemed short, given the Bianconeri good performance in the match. Ancelotti’s men were leading 3-0 at half-time –one of the goals being scored by Zidane– but in the second they relaxed too much allowing Lazio to score twice. Simeone played all 90 minutes in that game.

The second leg match was thrilling. Lazio took the lead, but Juventus equalised before half-time. However, when the game was about to end, Simeone took centre stage as the man embitter Ancelotti.  The Argentinian made it 2-1 and gave Lazio the ticket for the semi-finals.

Lazio and Simeone, who ended up winning a double that season as they conquered the Scudetto and the Coppa titles, upset Ancelotti’s Juve again in the Serie A. Once again, a goal scored by the Argentinian gave the Romans a 0-1 victory in the 28th matchday of the league.

When Ancelotti arrived at Milan, he somehow took revenge for that, knocking Lazio out of the 2002 Coppa. However, Simeone was injured and didn’t feature in that tie. Thus, the Italian might seek for a complete vengeance in this Copa del Rey.

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Carlo Ancelotti has said Real Madrid have to keep a clean sheet in the first leg of the semi-final clash with Atletico de Madrid.

The two capital sides go head-to-head at the Santiago Bernabeu tonight in the mouth-watering tie, and the Real boss said in his pre-match press conference it was imperative Los Blancos were tight at the back if they are to stand a chance of making the final. His side have only conceded one goal in the last nine matches since the turn of the year.

“It’s a knockout tie and we have 180 minutes to win it. Keeping a clean sheet at home will be very important and they’ll play a really intense game with reduced spaces on the pitch, so we’ll have to play quickly. We’ll have to be at our best and play confidently,” Ancelotti said.

The Italian’s side already lost to Diego Simeone’s team in La Liga at the Bernabeu this season, and of course, lost the final on the same ground last May. Ancelotti called in his players to fight for each other, and to show the passion and determination needed to win such an intense city derby. And he warned his players Atletico will be up for the match too.

“Atlético are perfectly organised on defence and are very good at using the break. They have kept the same quality in their organisation but have even more confidence. I like how organised they are because they’re very solid, compact and play well on the counter-attack. The derby is one of the most important matches for both clubs and a Real Madrid-Atlético is always important,” he told journalists.

 

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There’s only one thing dominating the sports pages today – the semi-final of the Copa del Rey between Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid.

The first leg takes place tonight at the Santiago Bernabeu, and Carlo Ancelotti gave his press conference yesterday in which he called on his players to show fight and determination to win. Despite the fact that Atletico have won the last two encounters at the Bernabeu, and sit top of the league, Real may just slight favourites for tonight’s match now they have settled into a system under the Italian manager.

One of the main focuses in the press is the record of Iker Casillas. AS goes with a picture of the World Cup winner of its front cover. The shotstopper, so often overlooked by Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti in the past year, set a new club record last week for going the most amount of minutes without conceding a goal. His record against tonight’s opponents if formidable. 24 games played in 14 years against the Rojiblancos – and not one single defeat.

In team news, Marca says Alvaro Arbeloa and Fabio Coentrao will start at full-back for Los Blancos as Carlo Ancelotti looks to rotate a bit and give some players a chance for a  breather, and others an opportunity to regain match fitness.

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Predrag Mijatovic believes Real Madrid youngster Jese Rodriguez is on the verge of becoming a first team regular at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The 20-year-old forward scored on his first La Liga start of the campaign at the weekend for Los Blancos as Carlo Ancelotti´s men drew with Athletic Bilbao at San Mames. Prior to that, Jese had come off the bench 12 times in the league this season.

The Spain Under-21 forward has played an important supersub role in Ancelotti´s squad, and has already scored at some of Spain’s most intimidating grounds this season – as well as at San Mames, he has also found the back of the net at the Camp Nou and the Mestalla this season.

And Mijatovic, a former Real Madrid player himself, said Jese can go on to achieve great things. The club´s former sporting director told Cope: “He is on the verge of becoming an important player for Real Madrid. He is the type of player who could mark an era at Madrid, I have no doubt about that. He is a youth player who has the potential to become a first-team regular without any problems.”

Although Jese has been linked with a loan move away from the club in the past, he has a contract with the 32-times La Liga winners until 2017.

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FC Barcelona’s defender Gerard Pique has surprised many in an interview with Spanish digital magazine Jot Down, praising Cristiano Ronaldo and confessing he felt happy when he saw the Portuguese winning the Ballon d’Or.

I’m happy he has won the Ballon d’Or. He deserves it for his outstanding career. It might have surprised the world and those who don’t know him, because of his tears, but not me. In fact, not only I wasn’t surprised, but I liked it. He’s got that fame of a tought guy who is above good and bad, and it was good to see that reaction. That was really important for him, he had suffered a lot and that came up. I liked it.”

Pique and Ronaldo were teammates at Manchester United, where the Spaniard developed great admiration for the Portuguese.

“He’s a perfect machine, a natural-born hard-worker who always wants to win. He can shoot with his right foot, with his left, free kicks, penalties, headers,… He would be the perfect player. He’s the first one to demand a lot from himself. At United he was already like that, he as a player that wanted to conquer the world,” Pique said.

“I haven’t spoken to him lately, because I’ve changed my number a few times, just like him I guess, but I always speak good things of him because I like him. People get an opinion of him for his gestures or words without knowing him. I also have to say he’s changed a little bit, for what I see. For me he’s a nice chap, and he helped me a lot when I arrived to Manchester United,” the Spanish international confessed.

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Real Madrid blog

Atletico Madrid moved three points clear of Real Madrid and Barcelona, following Los Blancos and Los Azulgranas’ failure to pick up maximum points against Athletic Bilbao and Valencia. La Liga’s two giants are now tied in second position, seeing the Colchoneros move ahead as they’ve reached their best state of form so far this season.

Having reinforced their squad with the arrivals of Diego Ribas and Jose Sosa in the winter transfer market, Atletico look now as one of the strongest teams in Europe. Their recent astonishing performances against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey and Real Sociedad in La Liga have cleared the doubts on whether they would be able to compete as good in all competitions.

When many still thought Barcelona would be after all Real Madrid’s main rival to win La Liga this season, Atletico have confirmed they will not stop fighting, and they have even become favourites for many Spanish football analysts.

Atletico have indeed the passion, the skills and the determination that they showed in 1996, the last time they lifted the league trophy. They might not have the big budgets that allowed his rivals sign Neymar and Gareth Bale last summer, but they’ve add quality players to a squad that was already strong.

However, the main concern for their real chances to win the title are whether they will be able to reach the end of the season in good shape, taking in account their bench isn’t filled with world-class players, such as those of their rivals.

Atletico’s options to reign in Spain might be reinforced or weakened within the next eight days, as they face Los Blancos in the Copa del Rey semi-final. If they qualify for the final beating their arch-rivals, that will boost their energies, and they could even realise they not only can win La Liga and the Copa del Rey, but also seek something important in the Champions League.

Real have the chance to bring the Colchoneros down from the clouds, and if they fail there is no doubt Atletico will become their most dangerous rival in the fight for La Liga.

Barcelona need to improve defensively

As for Barcelona, it seems like Tata Martino is struggling to find the way of getting out the downward spiral they’ve been in for the last month. Key players such as Xavi Hernandez and Leo Messi are in poor forme, the former having recently turned 34 and the latter struggling physical problems.

With Neymar on the sidelines, the Azulgranas believe the return of their new star might bring them back to the right track. However, in order to fight for all competitions, they should start by improving their wobbling defence, just as Carlo Ancelotti has done with Real.

Barcelona still maintain the game style that made them win six titles in one season under Pep Guardiola’s reign. They also have a starting eleven full of Ballon d’Or candidates. Nevertheless, their weaknesses become more obvious for their rivals week after week. Of course they are strong candidates to win La Liga, but at the moment, and especially if they reach the Copa del Rey final, if there’s a team Los Merengues should fear, that is Atletico.

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