Atlético Madrid are making the 20-minute trip southwest on Sunday to face Getafe in Los Colchoneros’ first game back from the latest FIFA break.
Atlético (7-4-1, 25 points) are looking to keep up with FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Villarreal CF in the Champions League places while maintaining a league-best 11-match unbeaten run. It may be easier said than done against Getafe (5-2-5, 17 points), which could end the weekend in fifth place with a victory in this mini-derby.
Lingering fitness problems continue to affect Atlético, as has been the case all season. Diego Simeone on Saturday confirmed that star goalkeeper Jan Oblak will miss this match due to a physical ailment, while son Giuliano Simeone has been included in the squad but is a doubt to start after he left training on Thursday with muscular pain.
Those are two big misses for an Atlético team that already has well-known problems away from the Metropolitano. Atleti have picked up only six of a possible 15 points on its travels this season.
On Saturday, El Cholo trained a probable 11 that would see Juan Musso make his season debut in goal and Clément Lenglet return to the side for the first time since his red card at Celta Vigo on Oct. 5. Dávid Hancko is likely to rest after he played 180 minutes for Slovakia over the international break, and Matteo Ruggeri is well-positioned to make his third successive start in LaLiga at left-back.
With Giuliano unlikely to feature (at least from the start), Nico Gonzalez could slide over to the right wing, leaving the left side for either Álex Baena or Thiago Almada. Alexander Sørloth had a great international break, scoring twice for Norway as he helped his nation qualify for its first World Cup in 28 years; it appears he has won the race against Antoine Griezmann to start up top with Julián Alvarez.
Atlético suffered a shock 2-1 defeat in its previous visit to Getafe on March 9, which marked Los Rojiblancos’ first loss in this fixture under Simeone. Though Los Rojiblancos have only a 2-2-1 record in the past five league meetings with Getafe, they have a fantastic overall record against Los Azulones under El Cholo: 20 wins, four draws, and one defeat in LaLiga, with just eight goals conceded.
Possible 11 Musso; Llorente, Giménez, Lenglet, Ruggeri; Koke, Barrios, Nico, Baena; Alvarez, Sørloth.
