MADRID, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Atletico Madrid faces Real Madrid in the Madrid city derby in the Wanda Metropolitano stadium on Saturday night in the biggest match of the weekend in Spain.
Real Madrid currently sit atop La Liga after a 1-0 win in Sevilla and a 2-0 home victory over Osasuna helped to quieten criticism of coach Zinedine Zidane, who just a week ago looked to be staring at the sack with the shadow of Jose Mourinho appearing to loom ever larger over the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
A win away to Atletico would banish that shadow in the short term, while a defeat to Diego Simeone's men could see Mourinho's name crop up again in conversation.
Zidane rested Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard on Wednesday against Osasuna and the pair will presumably return in the Metropolitano, although the impressive goals scored by Brazilian teenagers Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo will give the Real Madrid coach plenty to think about.
Injuries to Marcelo and Ferland Mendy mean that Nacho Rodriguez will continue at left-back, while Luka Modric could be back in contention for a place after injury issues of his own and Rafael Varane will partner Sergio Ramos after also being rested in midweek.
Atletico had a routine 2-0 win away to Mallorca on Wednesday with goals from Diego Costa and Joao Felix and it will be fascinating to see how 19-year-old Joao Felix performs in his biggest game since joining the club.
Meanwhile, Costa's battle with Ramos and Varane is likely to be one of the flashpoints of the night, even though Hazard commented in midweek that he is looking forward to meeting up again with his former Chelsea companion.
Simeone will have to wait to see if he will be able to count on the presence of former Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata after Morata was shown two yellow cards in a less than a minute against Mallorca and unless Atletico win their appeal, Morata will miss the chance to face his former club.
