Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid – Betting Tips and ICC Preview

The derby of Madrid, and the clash of two heated rivals, who had lots of fierce battle in the past few seasons, takes place in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This is the perfect chance to see two of the three biggest favourites for winning the Spanish La Liga and their actual strength. That especially applies to Atletico as Simeone’s team didn’t have such tough tests up until this point. As always, meetings between these two clubs aren’t peaceful, and we can expect one serious fight at MetLife Stadium.

Real finally won one match after a long time. The last time Los Blancos posted a win was all the way back in early May this year against Villarreal. Though, technically they haven’t won against Arsenal, as they defeated the Gunners after the penalty shootout, following a 2-2 result in the regular part of the event. Interestingly, we saw Gareth Bale in the line-up, despite all the bad blood between him and Zinedine Zidane, who openly wants to get rid of the Welsh superstar. Bale entered the pitch after the halftime and along with several other guys brought in energy which changed the flow of the entire match. Just to remind you, Real was down two goals at the halftime and had a player sent off, but they managed to come back. Bale and Asensio scored each in the span of three minutes and shocked Arsenal.

Atletico Madrid played on the same day against Guadalajara Chivas and also won following the penalties. However, we haven’t seen that much against the Mexicans, as the regulations ended without goals on both sides. Except for Llorente’s red card, there hasn’t been much interesting from their side. Just the usual stuff, hard defence, tough tackles and physical style of play. This was the first test in the USA for Atletico and now comes the biggest. We all know about the rivalry between the two sides, and in our opinion, there isn’t going to be anything friendly about this clash. Regarding the line-up, Atletico lost Diego Godin and Antonie Griezmann which is obvious, but there are some indications that the club is negotiating with Christian Eriksen from Tottenham, and if that transfer comes true, their quality will be the same as before.

Team News

Except for the everyday speculations about Bale’s future, there isn’t anything worth mentioning regarding these two sides. About Bale, the latest rumours are suggesting that Jiangsu from China is the most serious bidder for him.

Prediction

For Simeone, Real Madrid is the ultimate opponent and the most hated enemy. And that goes for the entire Atletico team. So, there aren’t going to be any calculations here. A tough and defensive-minded approach is guaranteed, and judging by the way Real plays, we might see them a bit more careful than usual. Therefore under 2.5 goals is the first choice here.

As for the second one, we would go with the second half as the most efficient. It is expected to see the best line-ups in the first 45 minutes, and the tempo of football will be very high. After the break, both Zidane and Simeone will give a chance to the guys who aren’t among best 11, which will no doubt result in the change of the dynamic and the overall flow of the game. That creates a possibility to see more goals. William Hill offers 19/20 for this pick.