DBasia.news – Atletico Madrid received some good news ahead of their derby match against Real Madrid in La Liga which will take place at the weekend. Their mainstay central defender can finally be played after a long absence due to injury. Jose Maria Gimenez is ready to play again when his team travels to Los Blancos headquarters.
Atletico Madrid were without a main centre-back in last Tuesday night’s must-win clash with Porto in the Champions League. After Jose Maria Gimenez and Stefan Savic were injured while Felipe had to serve a one-match suspension.
These conditions forced Diego Simeone to change formation by placing two central defenders and defensive midfielder, Geoffrey Kondogbia was shifted to the defense. Los Rojiblancos successfully completed their mission with a 3-1 win and qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Ahead of the Madrid derby which will take place on Sunday (12/12) local time against Real Madrid, as reported by Football-Espana, Atleti received good news with the recovery of Gimenez who can be played in that match.
Apart from that Felipe can also be played and Mario Hermoso can still be involved, Diego Simeone can also return to his preferred formation with three defenders.
Atleti must win in this derby even though it is challenging as they have to beat Los Blancos who have won nine consecutive wins in all competitions.
While currently Los Colchoneros are 10 points behind the leaders, El Real even though they still have one game left to play compared to their city rivals, a defeat could possibly end their hopes of winning the La Liga title this season.