Atletico Madrid Coach Diego Simeone doesn’t believe the Supercopa de Espana is an accurate guide for the derby against Real Madrid.
The champions beat the Copa del Rey winners over two-legs, drawing at Santiago Bernabeu before a 1-0 victory at Vicente Calderon.
But Cholo has told a pre-match Press conference that the game today will be different as the players have reached a higher level of fitness.
He also insisted that there’s little that can be drawn from Madrid’s defeat against Real Sociedad in their last League game, arguing that despite Carlo Ancelotti’s side giving up a two-goal lead, they were nearly in the clear.
“It will be different from the Supercopa. Now the players are better physically,” he said, according to AS.
“They will be a strong rival. I don’t agree with what I read after Madrid lost at Anoeta.
“If Madrid go 3-0 with the [Toni] Kroos chance then it’s game over. They had a bright 30 minutes.
“They are a team with speed but we have to be able to counter their game and get closer to the result we want.”
Much of the discussion in the build-up to the match has centred on the question of Atletico’s style and if they go too far, crossing the line from aggressive to violent.
Simeone’s Madrid counterpart Carlo Ancelotti however defended Atletico from the charge before Simeone explained why Atletico take the approach they do against Los Blancos.
“It’s natural to talk about the way we play and polemicize but this is a game of contact,” he went on.
“And there’s a referee to judge what was intended. We don’t consider ourselves a violent team, but hard-working and intense.
“We evaluated last year and hopefully we will continue down the same path.
“What Ancelotti said seems normal to me, coming from a colleague. In the Cup match at the Bernabeu they beat us and didn’t say anything, and that was the same game as we normally play.
“A Madrid at that level is hard to beat. That’s why we always play at that level.
“All teams have their rivals. We’ve played Madrid and the rest before and in a game of football there’s a lot that can happen.”
