Atletico Madrid host bitter city rivals Real Madrid at the Metropolitano Stadium on Sunday in a crucial La Liga derby, with both sides aiming to keep pace with early leaders Barcelona. Kick-off is at 14:15 GMT. Real trail unbeaten champions Barcelona by three points at the top of the table, while Atletico sit third.

Atletico have bounced back from back-to-back defeats to Bilbao and Liverpool earlier in September, thrashing Real Sociedad 3-0 and Osasuna 4-0 in their last two games. Goals from Jonathan David, Lee Kang-in, Robin Le Normand and Alex Baena helped Diego Simeone's side cruise to a comfortable home victory over Osasuna on Wednesday. "We controlled it in the first half even though we weren't clinical," said Simeone. "We were clinical in the second half and controlled the game."

Real Madrid come into the game in decent form under boss Jose Mourinho but have had wobbles this month, with a defeat to Betis and a dramatic 3-2 win at Elche after squandering a two-goal lead. Substitute Carlos Espi struck in stoppage time to secure the victory. Mourinho remained concerned by Real's failure to control the second half: "The problem seems obvious to me. It's harder to know why, but it's easy to understand that there are matches that seem over and, in the end, aren't." He added that his team's defensive issues were a concern for every match, not just the derby.

The Opta supercomputer makes Real Madrid favourites with a win probability of 46.6 percent. Atletico were given a 28.3 percent chance, while a draw was estimated at 25.1 percent. The rivals have faced each other on 243 occasions; Real Madrid won 125 games, Atletico won 60, while 58 matches ended as draws. In their last meeting in September 2025, Atletico thrashed Real 5-2.

Atletico's Julian Alvarez, Pablo Barrios and Alexander Sorloth are doubts with muscle issues. Jonathan David is likely to continue up front if Alvarez is absent. Real Madrid's Eder Militao, Rodrygo and Ferland Mendy are unavailable due to injuries, but otherwise Mourinho appears to have a full squad. Predicted XIs: Atletico: Oblak; Llorente, Romero, Le Normand, Grimaldo; Lee, Koke, Cardoso, Baena; David, Lookman. Real Madrid: Courtois; Dumfries, Konate, Huijsen, Cucurella; Valverde, Tchouameni; Guler, Bellingham, Vinicius; Mbappe.

Source: www.aljazeera.com