Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid VS. Santiago Bernabeu Date: Saturday 1 DecemberTime: 21:00 GMT "My relationship with the players and the club is like it has always been. I have perfect health and I am working as I have done for many years." - Jose Mourinho Real Madrid has defeated Atletico the past 8 times, and have an unbeaten streak of 23 games against them. “We don’t get bogged down in statistics, and all winning or losing streaks must come to an end at some point" - Diego Simeone Real Madrid Squad for the game:Goalkeepers: Casillas, Adán & Jesús.Defenders: Varane, Pepe, Ramos, Coentrão, Carvalho & Arbeloa.Midfielders: Khedira, Kaká, Özil, Alonso, Modric, Callejón, Di María & José Rodríguez.Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo & Benzema.
This should be a great game, Atletico have all to play for against Real, Falcao against Ramos should be the pick of the battles. Even though Real have been dominant against Atletico in recent times. Real's troubles this season haven't been at home, where they've done well enough.
Always a cracker! Let's hope Jose gets these guys up to Barca-level intensity for 90mins. Can't wait for this....
Cristiano Ronaldo, Coentrao, Pepe, Kaka and Arbeloa all arrived late at the stadium. Mourinho gave the order for the but to leave for the hotel without them. Arbeloa threw the group in his car and drove everyone out there. D'oh!
This press conference was hilarious (towards the end), Jose was in a good mood and kept offering to answer more and more questions at the end, he kept saying - that wasn't a real question, 1 more! 1 more... 1 more... and then got up walked towards the door and spouted out 'See you tomorrow!' in English. credit - Madridismo Org We have a good relationship [with Simeone] and have been keeping it although we are coaching rival clubs from the same city, which could make things a bit more complex. So this shows the respect there is between us. I met him a few years ago when I was in Inter, we kept in touch as much as possible --it's not on a daily baisis-- and I'm happy things are going well for him at the European level, where we play in separate competitions and don't have conflictive interests, and I thank him for his words. I think they don't boo you, right? Because they're indifferent to you. They applause me and they boo me, that's football. Tomorrow, the players should come out and warm up around 9:25 pm or so. I'll come out at 9:20 pm, alone. I promise. If they want to boo me, they can go ahead. I have a lot of experience, it won't affect me. After that, hopefully people support their Real Madrid in their objective to win the match. Absolutely [I don't like being analysed continuously]. Nothing is at stake for me tomorrow. You can draw your own conclusions if you want, it's not my problem at all. In my opinion, a game is meant to be enjoyed. If you win, you enjoy a lot, if you lose, you enjoy during the game too, trying to win when things are complicated. When the match is over, if you win, that's a good thing, if you lose, that's bad. But the only thing at stake is my happiness. Although, since I play every three days, almost, and I have another match on Tuesday, I don't have much time to be happy or sad about things. The only thing at stake is my happiness, but that's all. [Regarding if Mou feels the work he's been doing for three years here is not fully appreciated.] [Giving me a hard time] is the national sport, above, football, tennis or F1. I'm fine with it, because I came here for people to enjoy the national sport. I'm still who I am and who I think I must be. That's it, moving on. No problem. I don't care [about Iker and Xabi defending him]. What matters is that they do their best on the field, that they give their all until the last minute, which is my approach. Words can be nice or not, what stays with me is the work we do. Atlético will have to face a Real Madrid that want to keep winning the derbis while Real Madrid will have a to face an Atlético that wants to put an end to that same trend. Nothing unusual. They want to take advantage of their good current trend in Liga to succeed tomorrow night. Real Madrid comes from a loss, a bad Liga match and surely we want to win and keep going with our derby trend. Footballistically speaking, it's a nice and interesting moment. A derby is a derby, regardless of the situation. Last season, we were way ahead but we knew that anything could happen in a derby so we respected Atlético regardless. Tomorrow, they are 8 points ahead, they are second and they will be second after the match regardless of the result, but a derby is a derby. It's always a match that the players want to play, the fans want to see. I like it. At the end of the season, we'll do the math and we'll see. But there's no need to be a mathematician to know that 11, 14, 8 points don't make the same difference. It's basic math. But as in every match, we'll take things one match at a time, one competition at a time, always with the objective to win. Jose Rodríguez has the mentality, the attitude [to play a major Liga match]. He played 90 minutes in the last match and he was pretty tired. He said that it's been a long time since he last played 90 minutes. He's not a starter with Castilla. I'm not going to risk it and say he's ready for a match of that caliber. But I like to reward players. The kid did a really good match against Alcoyano. We don't have many players, we have a few open spaces, and we wanted to give Castilla the opportunity to play with Nacho and Morata tonight [Sidenote: We will be covering Castilla's match by the way! Stay tuned on this website!]. If he wants to play, I'm not afraid, because with this attitude he can give a positive response. Look, Essien, that's very easy. You guys are calling us liars. In that respect, I think you are liars. One day you say I visited PSG and the next day PSG's president denies it. We know that Essien had an allergic reaction and you say it's not true. He received an infiltration for some pain he had and had an allergic reaction to the product in it. Chelsea is his club, that's why he went to have the right treatment there. He'll be back to Madrid tomorrow, I believe, and he should be back to normal training with the team on Sunday. Against Betis, there were 3 teams: a very very good team and two bad ones. For tomorrow, I hope that Real Madrid and the referees are good and that Atleti is poor. That would be perfect. But since I like football too, hopefully Atleti is good too and we play a perfect game. Against Betis, there were two poor teams, and when that happens, even the team that was in good shape can't enjoy the match completely, and Betis was very good. No, no, it's not me challenging the fans [going on the field alone tomorrow, 5 minutes before the players]. It's just asking them to boo me --if there's somebody they want to boo-- and to do that before the match, and then go ahead and support their team. To give you an example, the Béticos were against their team, their coach, etc. all week long, but on the day of the match they supported their team with all their soul. And that's what should happen tomorrow with the Madridismo. Tomorrow I'll be there, if they want to boo me, I will be humble and peaceful and accept it. That's all, all I want is for the Madridismo to hlep their team win the match. [Whether the pressure has shifted in this derby, away from Atlético and towards Real Madrid.] No, I actually think that there is possibly more pressure on Atlético due to the high expectations. They are winning in Liga, in Europa League, they are scoring, not receiving goals. They are playing at 100%, their fans feel that they are going to win. The body language and the language that their coach and players show that they think they are going to win tomorrow. I think nobody will be deceived on our side and their expectations are really high. [Here is where the press manager says it's time for the last two questions.] [Regarding the open-doors training session of Atleti in the Calderón stadium tomorrow.] You have to ask El Cholo about this, his motives. [Last question] No, no let's take another two. This wasn't a question. [Refusing to comment on the Ultra Sur's song saying "Only you defend the team"] No, no, another two questions. Tomorrow is a game like any other, with a bit more pepper maybe, because it's a derby, but it's a match just like the Betis one. [Regarding who is the favorite in this match, Simeone saying it's Madrid, because it's the current Liga champion.] No, another question, I didn't like this one either. Don't ask me about what other people say... [About Real Madrid trainings being held behind closed doors all week long while Atleti is opening theirs tomorrow.] After this question, they can do another one, it's all good. Look, I'm sure Atleti's training tomorrow will be set plays, corners, etc. I'm sure it will be a tactical technical training, I'm sure. I don't have to think about whether I deserve the Golden Ball. Guardiola and Del Bosque are on vacation, they have time to think about it, you can ask them. I have three matches in the same week and no time to think about the Golden Ball. ---- Sorry I missed the coverage a few matches due to my hand probs but its getting better finally. :>
Mourinho (referring to the fans): "If they want to whistle at me, i'll be there. I will head out into the Bernabeu by myself at 9:20PM. I want them to whistle as me, and then support the team. I'll take it calmly and humbly." I think that 40 minutes before kick off is a long time to be whistled at
According to Marca: Casillas, Arbeloa, Ramos, Pepe, Coentrao; Xabi Alonso, Khedira, Di María, Özil, Cristiano Ronaldo y Benzema:
This match might decide whether Chelsea get a new manager this week or not Given the circumstances this is the most important game of the season so far, imo. The team need to do this.
Huge banner being rolled out in the South stand with viking boats on it. "1000 battles. 1000 victories".
Wow. Jose actually showed up way before kickoff like he said he would during the press conference. Greeted with chants of JOSE MOURINHO and clapping. No boos.
Ultras Sur start up anti-Simeone chant, Mourinho steps off bench and gestures to them to calm it down.
Khedira going forward often, and staying forward too on occasions. A couple times now that he's been ahead of Di Maria on the right flank.