The Madrid derby is upon us. Real vs Atletico. Blue collar vs white collar. The pride of the capital on the line.
But what if they didn’t have to be arch-rivals? What if Madrid united as one international team to take on the rest of the world?
Aside from the geopolitical issues of taking Madrid out of Spain, it turns out they’d be pretty handy. So would these lot beat England?
Goalkeeper
No competition for the no.1 spot in Madrid’s team.
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David De Gea, born in the capital and reared in Atletico Madrid’s academy and first-team before heading to Manchester, takes the gloves.
Let’s hope he never gets injured, because there’s not much strength in depth behind him.
Defence
Something in the Madrid water means they produce world class right-backs with ease. The same can’t be said of left-backs, unfortunately.
Therefore Juanfran and Dani Carvajal will have to share the full-back roles, playing 45 minutes on each flank. It’s either that or we let Javier Manquillo play there, which wouldn’t please Sunderland fans.
Inside them, Real’s Spanish international Nacho pairs Diego Llorente who’s been impressing on-loan at Malaga and should return to the Bernabeu in the summer.
Midfield
We’ve gone for a continental diamond in the middle, to compliment Madrid’s abundance of central midfielders.
Marcos Llorente, whose form for Alaves has been so good this season that Diego Simeone is reportedly trying to poach him from Real, sits at the base of our midfield quartet.
Ahead of him there’s the Atletico duo of Koke and Gabi. A little bit of sparkle, a little bit of grit. Everything you want from a midfield partnership.
At the tip of the diamond and trusted with Madrid’s no.10 shirt is Borja Mayoral. The 20-year-old is currently on loan from Real to Wolfsburg, having been tipped to be the latest product off La Fabrica’s conveyor belt of talent to crack the first-team.
Strikers
The honour of wearing Madrid’s no.9 shirt goes to the city’s golden boy, Fernando Torres.
From captaining Atletico aged 19 to winning two European Championships and a World Cup with Spain, he’s won almost everything there is to win in football.
His partner in crime up front is Real striker Alvaro Morata. He’s managed to force his way into ridiculously talented attacking line ups at Real and Juventus, so would lead Madrid’s line with distinction.
A well balanced side, full of flair, strength and Madrid pride.
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But how would they get on against the likes of France, Brazil and Portugal?
As the great saying goes, you never know how good a team is until they come up against Iceland in the knockout rounds of a major tournament.