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Journalism of Courage
As Real Madrid prepare to host their Spanish rivals Atletico for another Champions League derby at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday, coach Zinedine Zidane will hope to lift the trophy again in less than 18 months.
Defending champions Real have a history of denying Atletico a victory in the European competition. Diego Simeone’s men will want to seek revenge for 2014 when Sergio Ramos shattered their title dreams with an equaliser in the 93rd minute, followed by 2016 final when Real scored 4-1 in extra time.
Los Blancos have however lost their spectacular run as they barely escaped a draw against Valencia on the weekend, won against Deportivo La Coruna, lost against Barcelona last week and beat Bayern Munich in controversial manner in extra time before that to reach the semifinals. They however crushed Deportivo 6-2 after El Clasico with a starting line up that was not playing regularly.
Zidane, whose side is facing injury concerns, made nine changes in the last two La Liga games. The French coach will have to select a squad without one of his key strikers Gareth Bale because of a muscle injury and central defender Pepe, who is recovering from a rib fracture.
Bale is expected to be replaced by Marco Asensio or James Rodriguez, who along with Isco proved in the last two games that they deserve to be picked up in the Starting XI.
Jan Oblak, who missed several games because of a shoulder surgery, will have to be at his best to stop the Real attack as his side faces a defensive crisis. Jose Gimenez will be skipping the derby due to groin injury that he endured during Atletico’s La Liga on Saturday when they crushed Las Palmas 5-0. This comes as additional headache for Simeone whose side is already missing Juanfran Torres and Sime Vrsaljko.
Antoine Griezmann, who is the top scorer for Atletico with 25 goals in all competitions, will be carrying high hopes as he would look for revenge after missing a penalty kick in 2016 final against Real.
