Real Looking Towards Ronaldo To Deliver His Magic Against Atletico

Cristiano Ronaldo, the newly crowned world player of the year, will put his reputation on the line when his Real Madrid side faces Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the round of 16 match of the 2014-15 Copa Del Rey. The first leg resulted in a two nil home win for Atletico. The legendary Santiago Bernabeu will be witness to this epic battle on Jan. 15th. The winner of which will most probably face FC Barcelona at the quarter-final stage.

Real Madrid have lost some momentum after they went through a record breaking winning run. They were defeated in back to back matches against Valencia and Atletico Madrid, last week they got back to winning ways against Espanyol. Atletico Madrid have also won three of their last five matches. Last week they were comprehensively beaten by Barcelona away from home.

This season, there has already been two derby matches between these two cross town rivals. The first one resulted in a one-two home loss to Real. Tiago Mendes opened the scoring for Atletico while Ronaldo equalised for Real. Arda Turan scored the winner for Atletico. In the first leg of this cup tie, Atletico were winners as a result of strikers from Raul Garcia, from the penalty and Jose Gimenez.

Derbies have a life of their own. Past form and statistical inferences might not be as significant as controlling of the emotions. Derbies are high pressure games where the big match players show their true colours.

Real Madrid will rely on the ever present Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez for some inspiration. Atletico Madrid have their own superstars in Mario Mandzukic, Antoine Griezmann and Raul Garcia. The last match was a cagey affair with chances coming few and far. Hopefully this match will live up to the hype and be remembered for the brilliance of the starts present in it.

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