Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid: Injuries to Karim Benzema and Luis Suarez raise questions during the Madrid Derby

Real Madrid and its trans-town neighbors Atletico Madrid see you on sunday at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in the Madrid Derby La Liga clash, which saw both teams potentially fall short in attack. Real Madrid superstar striker Karim Benzema suffered a hamstring injury a week ago and missed Inter Milan in this week’s Champions League, while Atletico veteran Luis Suarez was ruled out early against Porto in the middle of the week at UCL, with both of them in high spirits. before the start of this 3 p.m. ET. Both teams still hope that their stars can compete.

But when looking at how these teams have done and without their star strikers, the results are pretty clear and suggest an advantage for one.

Benzema has only missed 2 matches for Real since the beginning of the season. The first was an October 30 win over Elche before a 2-0 win over Inter this week. It was a stunning 2-0-0 record. And in the last 10 games he has missed since the 2019 season, Real have only lost once. But since September 2017, he has missed 17 matches, of which Real lost four of them, failing to win seven. As for Suarez, he hasn’t missed a single game this season, but in the 27 games he has missed since February 2020, Atleti have only lost once.

All in all, the teams were able to weather the storms without their strikers, although Atleti was significantly better. So, if both are unable to progress, then Atleti has a clear advantage simply due to the quality of the attack. While Benzema and Vinicius have pretty good chemistry, Atleti simply have the overall depth and better options and can take advantage of a bit more in their midfield. In the campaign to win La Liga last season, midfielder Marcos Llorente scored 12 goals for Atletico, of which Angel Correa scored 9 goals and Joao Felix 7 goals. All of those players have returned this season, with club legend Antoine Griezmann also back with six goals in all competitions. Six players have scored multiple goals this season for Los Colchoneros.

The outside production of Benzema is not comparable. Last season, no attacking player produced more than five goals in La Liga while Benzema scored 23. But so far this season, others have managed to rise. Marco Asensio has scored four, and Vinicius has burst into double digits, after Benzema’s 12 goals equaled just two. Part of that is the dynamic partnership he has forged in attack with the Frenchman, and it will be interesting to see how Vinicius does if Benzema is out. So far this season, he’s been going strong without his partner.

Vinicius created three chances against Inter in midweek, but he also scored in a 2-0 win over Elche, where Benzema did not play.

Atletico have proven that without Suarez they can still get the results they want, while Real Madrid’s reliance on Benzema only puts pressure on Vinicius if his team-mates fail to feature.

If both don’t play, that’s Atleti’s advantage. If both play, expect fireworks as usual with secondary picks in attack playing a big role. Between Benzema and Vinicius and Suarez and Griezmann, it is difficult to choose one. On Sunday, we can just see which duo reigns supreme.