City rivals square off at the Vicente Calderón on Saturday as Atlético Madrid look to rise from the drop zone against second-place Real Madrid.
Atlético showed a bit of promise on Tuesday as two Sergio Agüero goals gave them a 2-2 draw against Chelsea, but they were beaten 1-0 by Athletic Bilbao last weekend. Atlético's last league win came over a month ago against Zaragoza, and they have just one victory on the season.
The Galácticos, meanwhile, beat Getafe 2-0 last weekend despite playing with 10 men for much of the game. They also drew 1-1 at AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Atlético are without Paulo Assunção because of a caution-related suspension; the midfielder picked up his fifth booking of the season last week against Athletic Bilbao. Juanito is injured and will miss out along with Mariano Pernía.
The Merengues continue to be without Cristiano Ronaldo, and the club insist they will not release him for Portugal duty in a week. Guti remains out of the squad after their Copa del Rey drubbing, and Raúl Albiol is suspended for hsi red card against Getafe. Royston Drenthe has been left off the squad list.
Despite only being in charge for two weeks, the pressure on Atlético manager Quique Sánchez Flores is already immense. It won't get any easier against Real, but maybe Atlético can put together something magical against their local rivals.
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Atlético Madrid remained in the relegation zone on Saturday when their comeback bid fell just short in a 3-2 loss to 10-man Real Madrid.
The Merengues went in front after just five minutes as Kaká dispossessed Cleber Santana before slotting one past Sergio Asenjo, and Marcelo doubled the lead in the 24th minute after taking pass from Karim Benzema inside the area.
It was 3-0 to the visitors in the 64th minute as Gonzalo Higuaín seemingly put it out of reach, but Sergio Ramos was dismissed two minutes later for hauling down Sergio Agüero.
That gave Atlético the impetus to stage a comeback, and Diego Forlán pulled a goal back in the 79th minute after taking a pass from Tomas Ujfalusi, and Agüero bagged a second two minutes later.
That would be as close, though, as Atlético would get as Real kept pace with Barcelona at the top.