With an aggregate score not familiar for them while under Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid's player will try to defeat Atletico by at least two goals to force extra time in their Copa del Rey series. The current World Champions will try to take advantage of playing home, while Atletico will try to forget their recent Liga defeat against Barcelona, where they seemed desperate like never before under Diego Simeone. What should Real Madrid try to do in order to get to the next stage of the Copa del Rey? Here you have some key elements for Los Blancos to emerge victorious.
1. Scoring early
Rather simple, but not easy to achieve. Real Madrid, like Barcelona, have suffered to score against Atletico in the first minutes of every game Diego Simeone has coached against Spain's top teams. Last year, when Atletico fell at Vicente Calderón 3-0, Los Blancos put the game to a rest by scoring early in then-keeper Thibaut Courtois' net, so if they want to have a chance for survival, they will have to provoke mistakes in Atletico's defense, something that happened frequently on Sunday.
2. Make Atletico have the ball
One of Atletico's stengths is to defend their net without the ball. They can establish up to seven defensive players in order to leave no space in their box, and if Real Madrid want to make Los Colchoneros suffer, then they will have to try and make them attack Keylor Navas' net. The more spaces Atletico leaves in their defensive end, the more ground Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale will have to show their speed.
3. Defending set pieces
Atletico Madrid have mastered the art of scoring in set pieces, and their long-time opponents have suffered each time they face the Red and White crew with Simeone in charge. Last week, the second goal came via a corner kick poorly defended by Sergio Ramos, and surely Real Madrid won't want that to happen again. It would help Los Blancos if Keylor Navas went out of the 6-yard box once in a while to clear some crosses, since he has developed that skill better than lifetime captain Iker Casillas, who will not play on Thursday.
4. Cutting Griezmann's supply
One of the most exciting matchups on Thursday will be the one between Dani Carvajal and Antoine Griezmann. With the French wingman proving to be quite an asset for Atletico, most of their counter attacks will have the former Real Sociedad man as a main character, so it would a good move by Carlo Ancelotti not to leave him against rather slow defenders like Ramos or Pepe. Maybe Carvajal's attacking skills will be missed, but it's pretty obvious Ancelotti will rather have a clean sheet to work with, leaving the goal scoring and assists to his top quality attackers.
5. Don't endulge Atletico's playing style
Simeone's men have been deemed as too aggressive, and sometimes it's a system that works like a charm against Los Blancos. The Argentinian and his crew have the score favoring them, and as time goes by Real Madrid will surely become more desperate if they can't produce upfront. Los Merengues will have a fighting chance if they don't fall into Atletico's bullying scheme. It would also help not roughing up the game like Alvaro Arbeloa and Ramos did last week, where La Decima's hero committed a flagrant foul against Raul Garcia when his team was dominating.
