Madrid awaits its king as another derby takes over the city
In a capital split between two obsessions, Real Madrid and Atlético meet again with pride, pressure and old scars hanging over the Bernabéu.
Where paths cross, neighbors do too. Where a derby without bite is impossible to imagine. Where, in the end, sport always comes roaring back. We are, of course, talking about Madrid. A city of two passions condemned to coexist. Like white and red blood cells in a human body, their colors are no accident. Real Madrid and Atlético; Atlético and Real Madrid. Intimate enemies in a capital that may understand truces, but never peace. Determined not to forget, never to slow down. It does not matter that one of the two has its mind on everything except LaLiga. Today is a different story. Today, ladies and gentlemen, is history. Today is the derby.
Tonight, at the Bernabéu. That madhouse where reason is little more than a mirage. Beneath the roof, and under the gaze of more than 78,000 souls as well as millions more around the world, the ball will roll. And the city will stop. Madrid will wait for its king. Still fresh in the memory is the Metropolitano, that historic 5-2 that is a tattoo on one side and a scar on the other. The tip of the iceberg for a ship that had seemed as mighty as the Titanic: that Real Madrid, led by Xabi Alonso, had won its first seven games. It looked unbeatable. And then, bang. The water started pouring in.
A different world
One hundred seventy-six days have passed. Life is different now; life is rosy. Real Madrid has shaken off its doubts and, even if the stain of Albacete still lingers, the present offers absolution. A Champions League quarterfinal and a title race still alive in La Liga. The possibility of a double remains standing. And at this club, something special always seems to bloom in the spring. But there is no margin for error: Sunday begins with Barcelona four points clear. With 10 rounds left, any slip can feel like check. And any check can become mate. Motivation rises to the third power in Chamartín on a night of flares, on the stage for the battle of all battles.
Lunin and Mbappé
And Real Madrid will have nearly its full crew. Carreras and Kylian Mbappé are both fully fit and expected to start. They have strung together several training sessions with the group, building rhythm and turning the light green. Jude Bellingham has fewer chances, returning to the squad after 49 days wrapped in cotton wool. With him, the only question is whether he will play at all.
Everything points to Andriy Lunin in goal, with Thibaut Courtois sidelined by a tear in the rectus femoris of his right quadriceps. It will be Lunin’s fourth start of the season, and Arbeloa praised him in his news conference: “The good fortune of having a squad like this is that when the best goalkeeper in history gets injured, we have another top-class goalkeeper ready.”
Goal alert
A glance at the record books is enough to quicken the pulse: Real Madrid has conceded in 14 straight derbies. It has not shut Atlético out since Dec. 12, 2021, in a 2-0 league win. That is 1,561 days without a clean sheet against the neighbor, counting games at the Bernabéu, the Metropolitano and even in Saudi Arabia. Every one of them. Atlético’s numbers are similar: one clean sheet in its last 13 derbies, the night of Julián’s double touch. Still, something is something. The forecast says goals.
And battle, always battle. Because even if Atlético knows it is playing for little in purely practical terms, La Liga is a utopia and a Champions League place is all but secured, it is still playing for pride. And that is a lot. There is also the scent of blood, the knowledge that it can storm the enemy’s lair and, in the process, deal a mortal blow to its rival’s title dream. The focus is on the Champions League and the Copa del Rey final; that is the rhythm Atlético’s season has settled into. But first comes the Bernabéu, a stage that awakens something deeper.
Last dance, Prince
Tonight will almost certainly be Antoine Griezmann’s last visit to Chamartín. At 35, he remains Atlético’s best player, but time moves on and the calls from afar keep coming, especially from the United States. He had the chance in recent weeks to pack his bags for Orlando, where they were offering him not just gold, but El Dorado. He chose his heart instead. He stayed to live out the Copa del Rey final. Maybe that image, lifting the trophy, will be his farewell. Or perhaps another title will follow. But the feeling is that these are his final months in red and white. Tonight, he could begin on the bench.
That is because Diego Simeone has not ruled out some rotation. Players such as Baena or Alexander Sørloth have every chance of breaking into the lineup. Julián Alvarez, though, looks certain to start, a black widow for Madrid: two goals in two games at the Bernabéu. He will be the standard-bearer for a team built from the back, starting with Juan Musso, who steps in for the injured Jan Oblak, out with a muscle strain in his side. Musso has faced 23 shots across his last three games, against Barcelona, Getafe and Tottenham, and responded with a 74% save rate. More importantly, he has looked very, very good.
Cholo’s 50
Along with Oblak, Simeone will also be without Pubill, Pablo Barrios and Mendoza. Arbeloa, meanwhile, has five absences: Éder Militão, Ferland Mendy, Dani Ceballos and Rodrygo, in addition to the already mentioned Courtois. This will be Simeone’s 50th derby as a coach: 13 wins, 15 draws and 21 losses. It will also be the first time he faces Arbeloa from the opposite bench. The two men exchanged modest compliments in the buildup: “Simeone is one of the best in the world”; “Arbeloa’s results speak for themselves.”
It is all a sleight of hand, like a poker face. The only goal is to hide the cards, to offer no clues, even to mislead the opponent. It is merely the calm before the storm. Tonight, at the Bernabéu, the eye of the hurricane will be a game that does not care about form or the standings. It does not matter what is at stake, because what is at stake is a derby. Madrid awaits its king.
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