Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa says he is looking forward to another grueling encounter when they host Real Madrid in a La Liga encounter at the Vicente Calderon on Sunday afternoon. The city rivals have already met on three occasions this season, with Atleti winning the La Liga encounter at the Santiago Bernabeu, while the Whites responded by winning both legs of their Copa del Rey semi-final tie convincingly. Real Madrid also go into this match as favourites due to their winning run in La Liga, whih has seen them leapfrogging both Atletico and Barcelona into first place with 63 points. The Rojiblancos have wobbled along the way and are currently in third place with 60 points, but Costa says they are determined to put last weekend’s 3-0 loss to Osasuna behind them. “I’m really up for this match,” he told reporters. “It’s a game that I’ve been thinking about for a while. “I think that every game is like a cup final. The Osasuna loss wasn’t a good one, and the derby is very important. We have to beat Madrid to stay in the fight. “Madrid are Madrid, everyone knows how strong they are. It’s very important, but we can’t let our heads drop over one game. “If we lose to Madrid it’ll be difficult, but not impossible. If we win, we know we’ll be in the fight again. We’ll fight as if it were our last game. “We have to be ourselves. We have to play with intensity and be on our guard, because they’re in great form.” Real Madrid have maintained their winning form this past week, beating Elche 3-0 in a league match last weekend, before thrashing Schalke 6-1 in a midweek Champions league encounter. Carlo Ancelotti was pleased with his side’s display, including Cristiano Ronaldo, who has now completed his three-match ban in La Liga. The Portuguese scored a brace against the German side while Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema also scored two goals each. “I’m satisfied with everything because it was a perfect match,” said Ancelotti after the Schalke win. “My players played very well together. “It was fantastic, it was the most difficult. Everything went our way. The entire squad feels good, we have fresh players. “There may be changes for the derby, but it’s hard to change players when you’re playing so well. I hope to repeat today’s game in the derby.”
Posted on: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 10:15:23 +0000
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