Atletico Madrid's form has been rather patchy of late, winning just two of their past six matches in all competitions, being knocked out of the Copa del Rey and falling slightly behind in the race to defend their own league title as they 4 points behind league leaders Real Madrid and 3 by Barcelona. They look to put that behind as they are set to play against recently promoted side Eibar in the small Spanish town.

Diego Simeone also saw captain Gabi and central midfielder Mario Suarez sent off in the cup quarterfinal against Barcelona, as his team against lost their discipline and shape in the face of defeat. The manager needs to get his side back on track quickly, piling on the wins in consistent fashion between now and late February when the Champions League starts back up. If he doesn't, then silverware is going to elude Atleti this time around—the league still looks like their best chance of success. Cristian Ansaldi will miss this match due to injury, while Koke and Tiago are back into the squad as well as Diego Godin, who missed the 2nd leg of the Copa Del Rey against Barcelona.

Eibar will be looking to continue their magical maiden run in La Liga, as they are 8th in the league and have gotten 2 wins and 2 draws from their last 6 matches. Saul Berjon will also be the player to watch as they hope to achieve quite another upset against the defending La Liga champions.

"We are very pleased with the core we have. We are providing many things on this side. Maybe they thought we would lose against Madrid and so we began to play on Saturdays and Wednesdays. We won, and that did not happen.''- Diego Simeone

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About the author
Roberto Rojas
Writing about the beautiful game. Cohost of the @LowLimitFutbol Podcast.