Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid: Koke, Diego Godin and Antoine Griezmann among key men for visitors
Thursday 25 February 2016 07:24, UK
Atletico Madrid travel to neighbours Real on Saturday afternoon, aiming to not only score an important win over their rivals but also boost their hopes of catching Barcelona in the La Liga title race.
Diego Simeone's side are the nearest challengers to the Catalans but, with an eight point gap opening up between Atletico and Barca, the Rojiblancos need to take maximum points off third-placed Real.
Who will be the key men in their bid to do that? We spoke to Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Terry Gibson to find out.
While he thinks the title race is as good as over, here are the five players Gibson feels could make the difference for Atletico this weekend…
Jan Oblak
When you're naming the five most important players for Atletico Madrid, it seriously could be the back four and the goalkeeper. They are the key men for Atletico. The goalkeeper is 23 years old and I didn't know too much about him when they paid huge money to sign him from Benfica in 2014 - but he's been fantastic.
We thought they'd miss David de Gea, and they brought in Thibaut Courtois. We thought they'd seriously miss him and they've brought in Oblak. They haven't missed Courtois at all.
Diego Godin
The leader of this Atletico Madrid team is Diego Godin. People will know about him as he's been there a few years and helped the club to their La Liga title win in 2013/14. He remains an important figure.
Godin also epitomises the spirit of Simeone. If Simeone could still play, he'd be Diego Godin. He's that type of player.
Antoine Griezmann
Atletico's weaker areas this season have been creativity in midfield and an out-and-out goal-scorer other than Antoine Griezmann - that's why he's my next pick. He's been vital, the only one who's contributed consistently in terms of goals and he's been the only striker they've bought in during the last couple of years who's been worth anywhere near the amount of money they paid for them.
He's suffering at the moment, though. He's chopping and changing positions - at the weekend he played in three different positions and only got 10 minutes as a centre forward.
Koke
Griezmann, Godin and Oblak would be the obvious three, right through the middle of the team, but Koke is still one of the go-to players for Atletico Madrid. It's not been his greatest season, though. He's a player who I thought would be converted to a more central midfield role but he's quite happy playing wider.
He needs a big game now. He's around the Spanish squad and a big game against Real Madrid would elevate him back into Vicente del Bosque's mind, in terms of starting at the Euros. I think he'll go as part of the squad but he has a bit of work to do to get himself back into the starting XI.
Saul
The final player I'm going to pick out is someone people may not know as well, a young player called Saul. He's leaped above Koke and, at the age of 21, has pretty much pinched the central midfield role we thought Koke would step into, alongside Gabi, the captain.
Saul has produced more than Koke this season, coming up with six goals across all competitions to Koke's three. He's also filled in at centre-back, while against Villarreal he almost played as a second striker.
Saul came through the youth system at Atletico Madrid, had a year at Rayo Vallecano, where he had a baptism of fire at centre-back, and this is his second season in the Atletico first team. He's a really good player, six foot tall, athletic, good on the ball, likes to put his foot in… he fulfils all the criteria Simeone looks for in a midfield player.
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