Real Madrid cannot afford to underestimate Atletico
Real Madrid will be looking to win their 11th European Cup when they face neighbours Atletico Madrid in the final of the Champions League on Saturday.
Los Blancos will head into the clash as slight favourites, but they cannot afford to underestimate their neighbours, who they face for the third successive Champions League campaign in this competition, with Saturday’s meeting being the second final between the pair.
Atletico are regarded as the best defensive unit in the European football under the feisty Diego Simeone. Their defensive solidarity has already seen the men from the Vicente Calderon knock out European heavyweights Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
However a win against their rivals and revenge for their 2014 final defeat would likely be the sweetest victory for the Rojiblancos, who have never won the European Cup in their history.
Real Madrid star Gareth Bale recently claimed that none of the Atletico players would get in the Real starting line-up, although he did balance it out by saying that Atletico are a great team.
There is a feeling that Real are highly-confident of beating their neighbours in the San Siro. It is one thing being confident, but it another being complacent and a touch of complacency may just have set in amongst Zinedine Zidane’s players.
The key to Atletico’s success under Simeone has been consistency in his playing personnel. The likes of Juanfran, Gabi, Koke, Diego Godin and Felipe Luis have all been in the starting line-up basically since Simeone’s arrival in Madrid.
That consistency has helped Atleti nurture a fantastic team spirit and a first ever European Cup triumph cannot be ruled out this weekend.
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