Ancelotti-Simeone: the pending accounts of the Madrid derby

Real Madrid and Atlético see each other on Sunday, in a derby in which the white team can hit the LaLiga table: it takes 10 points from Atleti, with one game more played by the whites; if it wins it will be 13, bigger words. The derby also means the reunion of Ancelotti and Simeone on the benches. They met 13 times in the Italian’s previous stage in Madrid, with equal results, a slight advantage on the part of the mattress technician, but also with a date marked by fire: on May 24, 2014, La Décima day in Lisbon.

Ancelotti: the streak and La Décima drive Real Madrid

Ancelotti arrives at Sunday’s derby full of the confidence that Madrid’s very good performance gives: outstanding leader in the League, ranked first in the Champions League and in overwhelming dynamics: nine consecutive victories. Madrid has even found defensive solvency: they have three games in a row without conceding. A white victory on Sunday would put 13 points between the two teams (with one more game for Madrid), quite a blow on the table in the race for LaLiga.

In his first spell at Madrid, Ancelotti had had enough of derbies: no less than 13 in just two seasons, of which he won four, drew four and lost five. In the League it could never be imposed, hence Carletto smells that the duel will be at the limit and asks for concentration. “It will be competed, they defend themselves very well. We have to be smart. Now the players are comfortable with what we do on the field, “he explained. Ancelotti in an interview with the media of the merengue club.

Without a doubt, there is a derby in Ancelotti’s passage through Madrid that stands out: the 2013-14 Champions League final in Lisbon. He was about to fall on the side of Cholo. Sergio Ramos avoided it in the 93rd minute and in extra time, Madrid unleashed itself to end up winning, 4-1, La Décima. They also beat Atleti in the 2014-15 Champions League quarter-finals, with a goalless draw in the first leg and a Pyrrhic 1-0 in the second leg, thanks to a goal from Chicharito, a starter in the absence of an injured Benzema. Carletto also beat Simeone in the 2013-14 Cup semifinals: 5-0 on aggregate to advance to the final in Valencia, where Madrid beat Barça. (2-1) with that carrerón de Bale that melted the leads to Bartra.

Simeone: after Porto, rule again in the capital

And when things seemed worse, Atético ten points behind Madrid in the League, going to Porto to conquer an almost impossible (to stay alive in the Champions League), being a team in the last 16, Simeone took his DeLorean and traveled to the past to return to the future. Subject to what so many other times, Oblak’s saves and Griezmann’s goals, he won in O Dragao and was classified second in the group. A boost of morale for Sunday, the derby against Madrid, by LaLiga. The match will mean the reunion with Ancelotti six seasons later. There are pending accounts.

Because if Ancelotti was the Madrid coach who snatched the Champions League from him in Lisbon, Ancelotti was also the Madrid coach on February 7, 2015, when Atleti beat him 4-0 at the Calderón. In total, of the 34 derbies led by Cholo at Atlético he has won nine, five of them against Ancelotti (with whom he was measured at 13). The first time was in the League, September 28, 2013, and just after the Cup that Cholo beat Mourinho at the Bernabéu. It all started off on the right foot. Victory in that derby, 0-1, goal by Costa.

In the suitcase of the Cholo there was more in front of the Italian. The Spanish Super Cup in 2014 (1-1 and 1-0 at the Calderón), the eighth of the Copa del Rey (2-0 at Calderón and 2-2), another derby in the League. A history of derbies that closed that goal by Chicharito in the 2014-15 Champions League quarter-finals … Until now, another story begins. Yesterday the Argentine sent his typical Christmas greeting with the following message: “When the goal seems difficult, don’t change your goal; look for a new way to get there ”. Well that. You can start from the Bernabéu. This Sunday. The DeLorean works.