When Atletico Madrid welcome Real Madrid to the Metropolitano on Sunday, Jose Mourinho and Diego Simeone will renew a rivalry that has been dormant for more than a decade. The two managers have not faced each other since 2014, when Mourinho was in charge of Chelsea and Atletico knocked the English side out of the Champions League at Stamford Bridge.
It will not, however, be their first Madrid derby as rival managers. That came two years earlier, when Simeone’s Atletico hosted Mourinho’s Real at the Vicente Calderon during the Portuguese’s first reign at the club, and left with a 4-1 defeat. The last Madrid derby between the pair was the 2013 Copa del Rey final, which Atletico won 2-1 after extra time, a result that ended a 14-year wait for a derby victory. Across their six previous meetings, Mourinho has three wins and a draw.
“This is a derby,” Mourinho said of the fixture. “Derbies are always something more special because of the history, the culture of the games and the passion of the fans.” Ever the pragmatist, he added: “But obviously three points is most important thing.”
Those three points carry unusual weight. Real Madrid go into the match second in La Liga with 15 points from six games, level with Real Betis and two clear of Atletico, who sit fourth. Barcelona lead the table on 21 points, meaning defeat for Mourinho’s side would leave them six points behind the leaders after the first seven matches. Atletico have responded to consecutive defeats by Athletic Club and Liverpool with back-to-back victories, beating Real Sociedad 3-0 and Osasuna 4-0, while Real also arrive on the back of a success, edging past Elche 3-2.
Mourinho has spent much of the build-up resisting comparisons between his team, Atletico and Barcelona, despite the contrasting narratives surrounding the clubs. Hansi Flick’s Barca have made a perfect start with eight wins in all competitions, seven of them in the league, while Real have had to produce defining moments in several matches. Their last league outing against Elche followed the pattern: Real led 2-0, were pegged back to 2-2, and won through a 91st-minute goal from substitute Carlos Espi. “It’s not normal to be winning 2-0 then the other team is able to equalise,” Mourinho said, pointing to the character his players have shown in finding late winners. “The league is a marathon and it’s not always a straight line. There will be obstacles, but we will be there to overcome them.”
Managing matches remains one of the main questions surrounding Real, and Mourinho acknowledged they have not yet reached the level of control he wants. “I am aware of the fact we can improve, we have to improve, but I also see a lot of very positive collective and individual things and in the three games where we needed last-minute winners, we found them,” he said.
Home advantage could prove significant. Real have won only two of their past 11 away matches at the Metropolitano, with their last such La Liga win coming four years ago, and Atletico won the corresponding derby 5-2 last season, an early setback for Real’s previous project under Xabi Alonso. This time there is a different manager on the touchline. Mourinho’s return in the summer has brought a familiar emphasis on organisation and adaptability, though he insisted his tactical approach is dictated by the players available to him rather than a fixed philosophy. “I’ve evolved alongside my players,” he said. “You have what you like and don’t like as a manager but then you have to work with the group of players you have.”
Simeone has identified Real’s threat in transition as a key tactical element of the game. “They’re better in transition than us,” said the Argentine, who has managed Atletico in more than 800 matches since taking charge in 2011. “When there’s a loss of possession, they look for Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr, they play to that strength. We have to read the game well and not allow any turnovers, so we don’t allow them to use those transitions.” Mbappe remains the focal point of the attack, with Vinicius Jr offering another route into space, and Real also have the quality to change a game from the bench, as the 21-year-old Espi has shown since arriving from Levante in the summer.
Aware of the feisty and hostile encounters of old, Simeone has urged his players not to be overwhelmed by the occasion. “I’m not one for giving advice,” he said when asked how his side should approach the fixture. “It’s normal for new players to feel pressure, with the excitement a game like this generates, but they need to be calm. Football is about composure.” He described Atletico as a team still “in construction” after a busy summer in which seven players left and five arrived. Julian Alvarez has missed the past two games with a muscle problem and Alexander Sorloth is also injured, though Simeone confirmed Alvarez will feature at some point, giving his side more strength in attack and threat in transition. New signing Jonathan David, the Canada forward, has scored in each of his last two appearances.
Despite the intensity of the fixture, there is respect between the two managers. “I have huge respect for Mourinho, I’ve been an admirer of his for a long time,” Simeone said. “He knows the regard I have for him. Hopefully we can compete as we have done when we’ve faced him.” Mourinho revealed he had been asked to discuss Simeone for a documentary and had no hesitation in speaking positively about him. Having been in charge for 100 days, he refused to give himself a positive or negative assessment. “All I can say is that I’ve given it my all,” he said. “I gave 100%. We have to keep on doing that every day.”