The Portuguese winger scored two fabulous goals for Madrid within three minutes of each other in the first-half of the game which saw Real Madrid comfortably take all three points from the clash at the Santiago Bernabeú.

But Ronaldo was unable to make it a third after he was handed his marching orders in the 70th minute after retaliating to Mtiliga pulling on the Portuguese starlet’s shirt - leaving the Denmark defender with a broken nose.

This now represents Ronaldo’s second red card of the season (and sixth in his career overall) and ironically both have been for making contact with players (or rather ‘lashing out’ on players).

Ronaldo received his first red card with his new team in the match against Almeria in December after kicking Juanma Ortiz and now less than two months later, what should have been a one-time mistake has now occurred again with serious consequences. The 24-year-old has been handed a two-match suspension and will miss the away game against Deportivo La Coruña this weekend and the visit of Espanyol to the capital the following week if Real should be unsuccessful in their appeal of the red card.

Since Sunday the newspapers have been awash with debates on the incident with Marca, the Spanish sports newspaper, claiming that Ronaldo was the victim of another unprovoked attack. Ronaldo claimed that he was only trying to break free of Mtiliga, which certainly seems the case, but surely he cannot justify his actions with the argument that “if he [Mtiliga] had been taller I would have struck his chest”. As for Jorge Valdano, the Real Madrid general director’s argument that referees need to protect players like Cristiano because they simply “want to entertain”, does that mean that players like Patrick Mtiliga do not require protection from referees?

I do feel a bit sorry for Ronaldo because I do not think he meant to hurt Mtiliga (or break his nose for that matter) – I don’t doubt Ronaldo has good intentions when on the pitch. But on Sunday it did look like he wanted to get away from Mtiliga and in the process it looked like he was going to do so with a bit of force. A red card? Right decision. A somewhat tainted win for him? Probably. In any case it is vital that Cristiano learns to control his reactions to provocation by opposing players because the only thing that will come out of such incidents will be deliberate wind-ups, yellow cards, red cards, probably suspensions and the small fact of letting your teammates down. In the end it really isn’t worth the hassle.

But if the Real Madrid v Málaga match was exciting, if only for the outstanding Ronaldo goals and a bit of controversy late on involving the same player, it was the Madrid derby happening south of the city which provided more football entertainment than in the capital as Míchel’s rising stars, Getafe, hosted a resurgent Atlético Madrid.

For the latter their resurgence was barricaded by a strong and classy force, that of Getafe. The team who seemed to be faltering early on in the season have now become the team who recently beat Sevilla, went to Mallorca in the Copa del Rey and tarnished their unbeaten home record by winning there, and then outshone and outplayed Atlético on Sunday night winning 1-0 at the Coliseum. 

Manu was the player to score for Getafe but it was in fact the quality of the cross from Pedro León which gave Manu, the player who recently said that it was the win against Sevilla which gave the squad belief that they could really achieve something this season, the opportunity to take all three points from the game. 10-man Atlético had chances to equalise but they lacked motivation and inspiration throughout the match and with the win Getafe see themselves four points off the Champions League slots and just one place off European qualification.

And whilst the Madrid teams were busy in action on Sunday night it was league-leaders Barcelona who dazzled by winning 3-0 against Valladolid one day earlier. Xavi got the first goal for the visiting side before Dani Alves scored a blinder just a minute later with a goal that looked like it intended to be a cross instead smashing into the back of the net. Lionel Messi then made it a third for the Catalan giants with the win meaning Barcelona became Winter Champions and ended the first-half of the La Liga season unbeaten.  

Matchday 19 results: Deportivo La Coruña 3 Athletic Bilbao 1; Espanyol 1 Mallorca 1; Getafe 1 Atlético Madrid 0; Real Madrid 2 Málaga 0; Sevilla 1 Almería 0; Tenerife 0 Valencia 0; Valladolid 0 Barcelona 3; Villarreal 4 Zaragoza 2; Xérez 1 Osasuna 2.

And now let’s take a quick look at the best matches in the last week from around Europe…

Premier League: ‘When the Stoke equaliser went in and Kuyt missed his header in the dying seconds of the game, it was soul-destroying’. Those were the words I used when describing the feeling of disbelief when Liverpool drew 1-1 to Stoke just over a week ago at the Britannia stadium. It wasn’t a loss, it was still one point gained, but for Liverpool fans such as myself, it sure felt like a loss with the 90th-minute Stoke goal meaning Liverpool lost two crucial points again late on in a match. But Liverpool managed to put in a convincing and relieving win against fourth-placed Tottenham midweek by beating the North Londoners 2-0 at Anfield. The win took the Merseysiders to fifth-place but with the goalless draw against Wolves tonight and with Spurs winning over Portsmouth, Liverpool still trail Tottenham by three points.

Serie A: Whilst Cristiano Ronaldo was smashing in goals at the Bernabéu on Sunday night, Inter Milan were smashing in goals against city rivals AC Milan at the San Siro in what was a highly charged and electric derby match. The nine-man hosts Inter won the game 2-0 with goals coming from Diego Milito and Goran Pandev. But the match wasn’t without it’s own share of controversy as former Real Madrid player Wesley Sneijder was sent off in the first-half for dissent to the referee and Lucio was sent off late in the game for a handball. The awarded penalty was then taken by Ronaldinho which was susbsequently saved by Julio César ending the clash in dramatic yet exciting fashion with Inter going nine points clear of their city rivals.

Vaishali Bhardwaj

 http://vaishalibhardwaj.wordpress.com/

However there was to be no bang to the start of La Liga’s 2010 year even if the firework displays in Spain proved otherwise. League leaders Barcelona and second-place Real Madrid failed to take all three points from their fixtures with Villarreal and Osasuna respectively, both only managing to chalk up draws.

Saturday saw Barcelona take on a resurgent Villarreal at El Madrigal where Pedro opened up the scoring for the Catalans in the seventh minute after Thierry Henry’s shot on goal deflected off of the crossbar into the path of the 22-year-old who did not hesitate in scoring.

However Villarreal got a deserved equaliser when David Fuster scored in the 51st minute and he probably should have scored another two goals during the match to win the game for the home side. But albeit for Villareal’s superb performance at the Camp Nou, they failed to take their chances and the game ended 1-1.

Saturday also saw Valencia win 1-0 against Espanyol at the Mestalla with 6ft 7 in Nikola Zigic scoring the only goal of the game whilst the late kick-off between Atlético Madrid and Sevilla produced the only real fireworks of the weekend.

In what was dubbed a ‘miracle’ win by The Guardian’s Sid Lowe, Antonio Lopez scored the winner for Atlético Madrid in dramatic fashion after the game looked set to end 1-1. However the 94th minute goal sent the crowd at the Vincente Calderón into hysteria as Los Rojiblancos took all three points from the clash.

Sunday saw Osasuna play Real Madrid at the Reyno de Navarra and it was Madrid’s chance to go top of La Liga should they win in Pamplona following on from Barcelona’s draw against Villarreal on Saturday evening. However Real Madrid failed to take their chances and indeed the same was true for the home side with the match ending a terribly unexciting 0-0.

Madrid’s best chance came on the counter attack following Sergio Ramos’ brilliant/crazy/lucky (however you want to view it) clearance of the ball in front of Iker Casillas.  Ramos’ clearance was rapidly collected by Lassana Diarra who then delivered a long-range shot straight to Gonzalo Higuaín and with the help of a slipping Osasuna defender, the Argentine attempted a shot on goal. However a superb save by Ricardo denied the 22-year-old which kept the game on level terms with the game eventually ending 0-0.

Madrid’s manager, Manuel Pellegrini later said that “They [Madrid] hardly had a chance.” But as The Guardian’s Sid Lowe mentions in his match report and as Roberto Palomar replied to Pellegrini’s statement, ‘that’s a pretty weak argument for a club that boasts a budget the size of a government ministry and that was playing for top spot.’ Which is true. Madrid missed the opportunity to go top of the league on goal difference and but the draw took Osasuna into 12th position.

Real Madrid were not the only team to draw on Sunday evening as Sporting Gijon also drew 2-2 against Malága, Getafe moved up to seventh place as they got an 83rd minute goal against Valladolid winning 1-0, Almeria beat bottom of the league Xerez 1-0, Racing Satander won 2-0 against Tenerife and this season’s surprise package Mallorca kept up their winning streak by beating Athletic Bilbao 2-0.

Still if the New Year did not bring fireworks to Matchday 16 in La Liga this week’s Copa del Rey results certainly made up for it.

Copa holders Barcelona were left stunned as Sevilla produced a 2-1 upset at the Camp Nou on Tuesday evening whilst Valencia were beaten by the same  score line on Wednesday night by Deportivo La Coruña. Atlético Madrid could not produce another win following their last-gasp win against Sevilla on the weekend, being beaten 3-0 by Recreativo whilst Villarreal drew 1-1 against Celta Vigo and Racing Santander won 3-2 against Alcorcón – the side that humiliated and then knocked out Real Madrid in the early stages of the competition.

Here are the manager reactions:

Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill: “We didn’t deserve that. We should have had the game out of sight – Pepe Reina has pulled off some unbelievable saves tonight. We didn’t deserve to lose the match, absolutely not, it’s a cruel blow. But we’ll fight back.”

Well I seem to be cursed with this very problem, doing the wrong thing in the wrong situation (not the eating chocolate cake part) and it seems that it is getting worse.

It seems that every time I decide to tell my sister, and it always seems to be her, a particularly serious story about something, I start laughing. Whether or not the story is amusing or not I find myself grinning like the Cheshire cat in front of a rather bemused sister.

Following each spectacle that I end up making of myself I promise myself that I will not do it next time yet when the next time comes around, there I am, grinning uncontrollably.

Well at least it seems it is not a problem I solely seem to possess. Dan Wegner, a psychologist at Harvard, has spent a lot of time studying “ironic” mental processes. Triggered by Fyodor Dostoevsky’s observations in his Winter Notes on Summer Impressions that “Try not to think of a polar bear and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute,” Wegner hypothesises about how ironic slips arise.

According to Wegner once you set yourself a task to avoid, say not smiling in utterly serious situations (relevant to me), a dual mental process begins. The conscious mind fills our thoughts with anything that will distract us from the forbidden thought, whilst the unconscious mind remains alert for any signs of the forbidden thought – all the better to avoid it.

There’s only one problem. Although the unconscious mind normally helps us control our impulses it also stores those unwanted thoughts as references which can be resurrected when our mind is under strain, such as when we need to multitask, or more relevantly to the Christmas season, when we begin drinking alcohol.

This is because it takes more mental effort for our conscious mind to find distractions than our unconscious mind to monitor the process, hence why when we add an extra mental load, such as drinking alcohol which decreases mental control, the ability to suppress our impulses falls to pieces. The more taboo a thought or action is and the more we try and suppress it, the more it becomes harder to do so.

No guesses then that trying to suppress carnal desires becomes extremely difficult. Wegner found that when people were instructed not to think about sex, they became significantly more aroused than when they were instructed to think about another activity such as dancing.

How then to avoid a social faux pas this holiday season?  Your best bets are meditating to increase your mental concentration, trying to practise the types of situations that you are normally likely to slip up in and perhaps the most difficult – staying off the booze.

In terms of New Year’s resolutions, Wegner encourages us to keep them positive (“I will eat fruit”) rather than negative (“I will not eat chocolate cake) as the former requires your brain to search for specific things rather than the rather fruitless task of filling your mind with distracting thoughts.

As for me it seems I will be practising my ability to tell my sister stories without the unnecessary bouts of smiles and laughter, probably whilst eating some delicious chocolate cake and watching some good seasonal television.

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After going a goal down following Boselli’s strike in the 37th minute, substitute Pedro equalised for Barcelona with just two minutes of the game remaining taking the match into extra time. Pedro has now scored in every major competition this season and the goal was crucial in Barcelona’s fight-back.

With Pedro’s goal levelling the game it was to be 2009 Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi who chested the ball to score the winner in the 110th minute to give his club their sixth major trophy of the season following their triumphs on both the domestic and European front.

In what has been an unbelievable and record-breaking year for Josep Guardiola’s side, The Fifa Club World Cup is the latest silverware to be added to Barcelona’s collection following triumphs in the Primera Liga, Champions League, Copa del Rey and the Spanish and European Super Cups this year. An extraordinary feat for an extraordinary club.

And whilst Barcelona were busy re-writing history in Abu Dhabi…

Real Madrid produced an absolutely scintillating performance over Zaragoza beating the visitors 6-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu on Saturday evening. Gonzalo Higuaín continued on his goal-fest this season scoring two goals with Rafael Van der Vaart also scoring two goals for Los Blancos. Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema added their names to the score sheet in what was a dominating and convincing 6-0 win for The Whites leaving them two points behind league leaders Barcelona.

For the rest of the results from matchday 15 in the Primera Liga check out the table below:

‘Premier League into Work’ will take place at Chelsea, Everton, Sunderland and Portsmouth football clubs and aims to provide jobseekers the skills they need to find work whilst also improving their fitness levels and football skills.

The initiative was launched on December 2nd at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium. Chelsea FC manager Carlo Ancelotti said “I have seen first hand the huge amount of work that the club does in communities all over London, improving the lives of thousands of people. Chelsea is helping to give unemployed people the support they need to get back on their feet and find work again and it’s great to see the launch of the Premier League into Work project here at Chelsea.”

The courses, which will be led by award-winning coaches, will aim to develop interviewing skills, job search techniques, CV preparation, health and fitness, and football training.

Each course will last ten weeks and each participant will undertake a two-week work placement.

‘Premier League into Work’ clubs will work with a wide range of employers, including local councils, who have committed to providing work placements and job opportunities within diverse areas such as hospitality, catering, transport, mechanics and local radio.

The scheme is based on the successful Support Employment programme which is currently being run by 20 Scottish football clubs.

Vaishali Bhardwaj

It was a match with a line-up consisting of the ‘Gods’ of current football – 2009 Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi and the world’s most expensive player Cristiano Ronaldo amongst other football stars including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and Raúl. World-class footballers all playing in the biggest fixture of the La Liga calendar.

And both teams performed to the standards required in such a contest of the Gods with Real Madrid producing one of their best away performances this season and demonstrating that their newly assembled team could take on the team that won the Champions League, La Liga and the Copa del Rey last season.

But for Madrid it was not enough. Six minutes after coming on as a substitute it was Barcelona’s Ibrahimovic who took centre-stage when he scored a wonderful goal past Iker Casillas in the 56th minute and gave the hosts the goal that would see them to victory against their arch-rivals. If people doubted the Sweden international’s ability to be as important to Barcelona as Samuel Eto’o was for the Catalans during his career then they were wrong. When Barcelona needed a player who could produce a fabulous finish on this grand stage then they had it in the form of Ibra. However it was Real’s Ronaldo who could not produce the finish that he is more than capable of - his shot on goal being denied by a great save from Victor Valdes in the first half. 

The win at the Camp Nou took Barcelona ahead of Real Madrid in the league table and with Barcelona playing a tough fixture against Deportivo La Coruña away this weekend, Real Madrid needed to win at home against Almeria. And the match did not disappoint.

Madrid took the lead with a Sergio Ramos header in the 31st minute giving the defender his first goal of the season and it was Los Blancos who dominated play throughout most of the first-half.

However Almeria went in front in the second-half by taking advantage of some poor clearances from the hosts with a Fernando Soriano goal in the 59th minute and just two minutes later, a Kalu Uche strike, leaving everyone in the Bernabéu stunned. 

Albeit for some dodgy defending from Madrid, it was to be Gonzalo Higuaín, who proved yet again to be Real’s wonder man, who equalised for Los Blancos in the 74th minute putting the two teams back on level terms and setting up an exciting and lively final ten minutes which began with a penalty being awarded to the home-side.

2008 Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to take the penalty which had been awarded following a foul on the Portugal international by goalkeeper Diego Alves. A slight hint of diving by Ronaldo handed him his chance of putting Madrid back in front but the 24-year-old failed to convert the penalty into a goal with a somewhat tame effort. Alves’ clearance of the ball instead fell to substitute Karim Benzema who scored putting Madrid 3-2 up in the 84th minute.

Ronaldo did eventually get his goal in the 86th minute and was duly booked for taking his shirt off whilst celebrating his superb strike. But the game ended in controversy for the Portugal international as he was shown a red card in the latter stages of the match for kicking Juanma Ortiz.

The game ended 4-2 to Real Madrid and was an important victory more so because Barcelona also went on to win 3-1 at the Municipal de Riazor leaping them five points ahead of their arch-rivals having played one game more. But personally what was perhaps most interesting from the shower of goals at the Bernabéu on Saturday was the controversy surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo and his behaviour during the match.

Ronaldo is an interesting character. Clearly the man is a perfectionist – wanting to be the best at all that he does reflected in the fact that he failed to celebrate Benzema’s goal with the rest of his teammates choosing instead to brood over his penalty miss. Sky Sports journalists Graham Hunter and Guillem Balague had an interesting debate about this in today’s Revista de la Liga aired live on Sky Sports.

Guillem Balague took the stance that although Ronaldo is very much important to his team, shown by the fact that Madrid’s form did dip whilst he was injured, the Portugal international believes he is the best player in his team let alone in the football world. That slight air of self-importance results in impulsive and sometimes silly errors on the pitch such as falling prey to provocation and being cheaply sent off which in this instance means he will miss the crucial tie against Valencia at the Mestalla this coming weekend. Guillem thought that Ronaldo’s behaviour stems from Real Madrid lacking a sense of leadership.

On the other hand Graham Hunter felt that the 24-year-old has stepped up to the title of the world’s most expensive footballer, having taken on more of a leadership role in a team where there are ‘cowards’ hiding. The fact is that Ronaldo’s stats show it all. Cristiano averages a goal for Madrid every 89 minutes but has a shot on target every 11 minutes. No one can deny his importance to the team.

I personally think both journalists are right. I am a huge fan of Ronaldo and have been since his early years at Manchester United. His ability, his importance and future importance to Real Madrid cannot be doubted. He, like at United, will be a crucial player for Madrid if they want to gain honours this season and in the upcoming seasons.

I think Ronaldo needs to have some sort of self-importance and belief in his ability because it drives him to achieve more, and for Los Blancos this winning mentality is just what the club craves and requires in the attempt to equal or surpass what Barcelona achieved last season.

However without leadership and a strong sense of teamwork Ronaldo’s self-importance will not do any favours for his team exemplified by his sending-off against Almeria. Taking off his shirt, although favourable to many women, was a silly and easily avoidable booking. But passion drives many and so his celebration can be understood.

But with that yellow card to his name what was the need to kick Ortiz and be sent off? Did Ronaldo believe he would not be caught or did he simply not think? Guillem made a very good point when he exemplified this situation to what would have happened if it had occurred at Barcelona. Any player acting in such a way as Ronaldo did on Saturday would have got a good talking to from the senior players such as Iniesta or Xavi because it is in the team’s interest that such individual errors do not occur if they can be helped. Barcelona are a team effort and even though each player has their flash of brilliance, no less than 2009 Ballon d’Or winner Messi, they win together.

But it may just that for Ronaldo: an individual and one-time error. For Real Madrid to put on a strong performance and reproduce a shower of goals at the Mestalla against Valencia on Saturday the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo will not go unnoticed but it will be the chance for his team to show their quality.

Click here to view the embedded video.

1) Whoever said that footballer’s had style? What with all of the money footballer’s earn you would think they would have some sense of what style is… well apparently not if this video is anything to go by.

Diouf\’s parking ticket evasion

2) Manchester United’s Patrice Evra isn’t the first person you think of when you say ’funny guy’ but here he is showing us his amazing interviewing skills, his Korean speaking skills… and his ability to thoroughly embarrass fellow team-mate Ji-Sung Park on MUTV whilst having a bit of a laugh.

Patrice Evra: a lesson in interviewing

3) If anyone thought that football was a boys game then think again. Watch this shocking clip of possibly the dirtiest female football player that the game of soccer has seen…

What a nice lady…

4) Moving away from more amusing footie vids, my highlight of last week’s competitive football fixtures has got to be the 5-5 thriller between Lyon and Marseille at the Stade de Gerland. Always a highly exciting encounter this game proved to be no different as nothing short of 10 goals were scored.

Lyon v Marseille thriller

And lastly a quick update on my latest published work. As you all know I have had articles published for BBC Sport, The Guardian and The Londoner magazine but last week I had three articles published on The Times’ website. Check out the articles and by all means let me know what you think! Comments are always welcome!

a) India v Pakistan cricket to be resumed? It does not look positive: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article6899561.ece

b) Arsenal beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-1 at Molineux but see what Wolves manager Mick McCarthy had to say about the fixture before the game: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/wolverhampton_wanderers/article6906484.ece

c) Stoke City fans would have been pleased to hear that Ryan Shawcross was close to signing a new deal with the Potters and here’s why: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article6906735.ece

There were three goals and 80 minutes of dominating play from Real Madrid, two goals and ten thrilling minutes of fight back play from the home side Atlético Madrid, a red card for Sergio Ramos, seven yellow cards and a flying object striking the face of Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini. This could only be the Madrid derby.

Always a fixture which promises excitement and controversy, the Atlético Madrid v Real Madrid clash at the Vincente Calderón on Saturday produced nothing less than what had been expected of this contentious city derby.

Real Madrid pressurised from the start with Brazil international Kaka scoring a wonderful goal in the fifth minute with Marcelo making it two goals to the visitors in the 24th minute. Aside from the rather odd celebration by the defender Real Madrid were in cruise control of the match with shots on goal coming from Pepe, Sergio Ramos and Benzema.

Although Los Rojiblancos had shots on target coming from Forlán and Simão before the break the home side could not muster enough motivation to get the breakthrough goal.

In the second-half Madrid kept up the dominance of play with Gonzalo Higuaín getting his fourth goal of the campaign in the 64th minute, but Atlético found new confidence one minute later upon the dismissal of Sergio Ramos for a tackle on Agüero outside the area.  

The sending-off initiated a thrilling fight back by Los Rojiblancos starting with Forlán’s goal in the 79th minute. The goal gave the home crowd some compensation for their team’s performance but it was to be Sergio Agüero’s goal two minutes later, which gave the Atlético fans a real hope of taking a point from the match.

Atlético produced a tenacious attack on Madrid’s defence in the last ten minutes with Simão coming the closest to equalising for the home side but it was too little too late. Real took all three points from the exciting match and kept in tact their eleven year record of no losses at the Calderón.

Real have not lost at the Vicente Calderón for 10 years and have won four and drawn one of their last five league visits.

Atlético have managed just one win from their nine Primera Division games which lead to coach Abel Resino being replaced with Quique Sánchez Flores on October 23.

Under their new coach Atlético produced an impressive 2-2 draw with Chelsea in the Champions League mid-week and Real veteran striker Raúl admits they will be in for a tough game.

“It is always complicated to play at the Calderón,” Raúl said. “Atlético have improved with their new coach.

“They deserved to win against Chelsea and they are more confident now despite their Champions League elimination.”

Raúl has been reduced to substitute appearances in Madrid’s last two games but insisted he had no problems with the decisions of coach Manuel Pellegrini.

“I am just another player on this squad,” said the 32-year-old. “I have to work. I can’t complain about the season I’ve had so far.

“I believe the team as a whole is what really matters and we have improved of late. We must focus on our games against Atlético and Alcorcón [in the Copa del Rey].

“I don’t know [if I will play tomorrow]. The coach will decide. The team responded well in the last two games, but one must always be ready and be in optimum form in order to make good use of any chances one may get.

“All my team-mates are doing a great job and I wish to play.

“The coach knows exactly what he wants, but this is a new project and it’s hard for things to work out right at the start of it. We have to polish some aspects of our game, but we are doing a great job and I’m sure we’ll soon improve.”

Real will be without foward Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been ruled out for another two weeks with an ankle injury.

Atlético winger Simão Sabrosa has mixed feelings about compatriot Ronaldo’s absence with Portugal’s two-legged World Cup play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina looming later this month.

“Cristiano was the best player in the world last year but Real Madrid can’t just depend on one man,” he told the club’s website.

“It’s important for my country that he recovers from his injury.”

Simão believes the draw against Chelsea, which saw Sergio Agüero score two superb goals against the English Premier League leaders, will have given his side a major boost ahead of the derby.

“Against Chelsea we did everything, we fought and the fans were on our side,” he said.

“Together we are stronger and, even though we are in a difficult period, we believe in ourselves and we know we have what it takes to win on Saturday.”

Team sheets:

REAL MADRID:

ATLÉTICO MADRID:

GOALKEEPERS:  Asenjo, De Gea.
DEFENDERS: Valera, Antonio López, Ujfalusi, Álvaro Domínguez, Perea, Pablo Ibáñez.
MIDFIELDERS: Ignacio Camacho, Raúl García, Jurado, Maxi Rodríguez, Reyes, Simão, Cléber Santana.
STRIKERS: Forlán, Kun Agüero, Sinama-Pongolle.