Atlético de Madrid on Sunday will play its first league game in three weeks as Osasuna visit the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, eyeing a second successive win at Atlético’s home ground.
Atlético Madrid (12-5-1, 41 points) want to take advantage of Sunday’s Supercopa de España final between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid to reclaim first place in LaLiga. This game kicks off a stretch of six games in 18 days for Atlético; another win on Sunday afternoon will extend the Colchoneros’ winning streak to 14 games, which would be a new club record — and a nice cherry on top of a week in the club announced a new sponsorship deal with energy drink giant Red Bull.
But Atlético’s previous meeting with Osasuna (6-7-5, 25 points) was the infamous 4-1 loss at the Metropolitano last May, which served as the final home game for several Atleti players including Álvaro Morata, Memphis Depay, Mario Hermoso, and Stefan Savić. Osasuna last won consecutive meetings with Atlético in April and October 2009 — and even though Los Rojillos have not won in LaLiga since Nov. 2, head coach Vicente Moreno is confident his team will meet the moment on Sunday.
“If we look at the dynamics, the table, we could assume that Atlético are currently the most difficult opponent in Spain,” Moreno told the media on Saturday. “But this must always be seen as an opportunity to showcase yourself, to do things well, to compete and to break statistics. We are also good at breaking statistics, winning where you haven’t won for a long time. The other day we won in Tenerife (in the Copa del Rey), where we hadn’t won for many years. Let’s see if we can break the statistics this time, too.”
In a big loss for Los Rojiblancos, Josema Giménez will miss out on Sunday’s game as he has not recovered in time from the muscle injury he picked up in the win over Barcelona four days before Christmas. Giménez is the only absence though, and Robin Le Normand is expected to step in for the Uruguayan to make his first start in LaLiga for 105 days.
-Elsewhere in the 11, Marcos Llorente could replace Nahuel Molina at right-back in the only outfield change from the side that defeated Marbella in the Copa del Rey last Saturday. Antoine Griezmann and Julián Alvarez should be the starting forward pair; Pablo Barrios, Conor Gallagher, Rodrigo de Paul, and Giuliano Simeone are the likely midfield quartet; Clément Lenglet will partner Le Normand, with Javi Galán keeping his place at left-back and Jan Oblak returning between the posts.
As for Osasuna, the visitors will be without their dangerous winger Bryan Zaragoza, who is recovering from a broken toe. Moreno is planning a change of system for this match as well, with local media reporting that Osasuna will line up in a 5-4-1 formation to combat Atlético’s 4-4-2/4-3-3.
Date Jan. 12, 2025
Location Riyadh Air Metropolitano, Madrid
Kickoff time 4:15 p.m. CEST, 3:15 p.m. GMT, 10:15 a.m. ET, 7:15 a.m. PT
Available TV/streaming ESPN+ (United States)
