Real Madrid fell six points behind Barcelona on Saturday, and they will reduce to cut that deficit in half when they face Atletico Madrid in the first Madrid derby of the season at the RiyadhAir Metropolitano on Sunday afternoon.

The last 12 days have been good for Jose Mourinho’s side, with three wins recorded against Inter Milan, Rayo Vallecano and Elche . However, their performance levels have been far below expectations, and they cannot afford this to be the case when they make the visit to Atleti, who have also been in good form of late.

In the last week, Atleti have scored seven goals without reply in La Liga, as they defeated Real Sociedad (3-0) and Osasuna (4-0). Diego Simeone’s side will look to cause similar problems for Real Madrid than the likes of Inter, Rayo and Elche, which is why Mourinho’s side will surely need their best performance of the season to claim a crucial three points going into the first international break of the 2026-27 campaign.

In particular, Real Madrid’s full-backs, which will be Denzel Dumfries/Trent Alexander-Arnold and Marc Cucurella, must nullify the threats of Alex Baena and Lee Kang-in. Both players have been in fine form for Atleti in recent weeks, and they are the players most likely to return Los Blancos – also Julian Alvarez, although he’s unlikely to start after only recently returning from injury.

At the other end, Real Madrid need Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Arda Guler to continue their excellent starts to the season. Also, now would be the perfect time for Vinicius Junior to return to form, especially as he has yet to register a goal or assist in any of three away matches that Mourinho’s side have played so far.

Real Madrid lost 5-2 in this fixture last season, and they will be desperately hoping to avoid a repeat result this time around. It’s hoped that they will, given that Mourinho will not tolerate a disastrous performance similar to the one from last September, and his players will surely know it. Kick-off at the RiyadhAir Metropolitano is at 4:15pm local time.