Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid

And the Madrid derby is back again. The last time these 2 sides faced was in the quarter finals of last season's Champions league when a late goal from Javier Hernandez sealed a narrow victory for Real as Athletico crashed out 1-0 on aggregate.

Things have changed since then at Real Madrid as they sacked Carlo Ancelotti and brought in Rafa Benitez .Real haven't had the best of starts to their league campaign drawing 2 games out of 6 while their city rivals Atletico have already lost 2 games including a defeat to Barcelona .

It's also worth mentioning that the last league game between these 2 clubs saw Atletico thrash 'Los Blancos' 4-0 including goals from Mandzukic and Griezmann .Atletico also registered a 2-1 win against Real in their first league meeting last season .Atletico Madrid also got the better of Real in the Copa Del Rey when they won 4-2 on aggregate including a brace from Torres in the second leg .

This fixture could be very historic for Cristiano Ronaldo who needs only one goal to overtake Raul and become the club's leading goalscorer having reached 323 goals with a brace against Malmo in the Champions league last week.  It's a bit of a funny situation for Ronaldo as he has scored in only one league game out of 6 games but found the back of the net 5 times in that game against Espanyol . It will be perfect for Real if Ronaldo can break the record against their city rivals Atletico Madrid.

Real's no.9 Karim Benzema will also be crucial for them having scored 5 league goals in 5 games and joining Ronaldo as the league top scorer.

Talking about key players in attack , Antoine Griezmann will be the player to watch for 'Los Rojiblancos' who is their top scorer in all competitions this season with 3 goals and 2 assists in the league and also grabbed a brace in the Champions league againsy Galatasaray.

Atletico will be keen to grab  a victory having lost both their previous fixtures. Atletico will definitely feel the absence of  Arda Turan who moved to FC Barcelona in the summer . The Turkish international was crucial for them over the past few years and played a huge role for them in 2013-14  when they lifted the Liga BBVA after 17 years and also reached the Champions league finals where they lost to Real in extra time .

This summer also saw the departure of striker Mario Mandzukic to Juventus and Atletico signed Jackson Martinez from Porto who seemed like he was on his way to AC Milan. Mandzukic and Griezmann had formed a good strike partnership but J.Martinez hasn't really delivered so far having scored only once in the League .Atletico will be hoping he can find his shooting boots in the Madrid derby and get back to his old form that made him so dangerous at Porto .

It will be interesting to see if Simeone picks his ex-teammate Fernando Torres for the clash .'El Nino' has found the back of the net twice including a goal against Barcelona in which they lost 2-1 .

Atletico Madrid are known for their aggression, discipline and strong defensive displays under Coach Simeone and they will be looking to Diego Godin to put in a strong perfrimance in defense and possibly keep a clean sheet .

Rafa Benitez will also be boosted by the return of Gareth Bale amd Sergio Ramos who have been declared fit but Benitez has ruled out James Rodriguez for the clash. It's unclear whether Benitez will be starting with Bale as he just made his return from injury and Benitez does have the services of Mateo Kovacic at his disposal who was signed from Inter in the summer and has had  a couple of good games under his belt .

Real Madrid will be the favourites for the derby with Atletico's poor performances in the past few games but if there's one thing we know about Diego Simeone is that he sure knows how to beat Real Madrid.

Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund

This Sunday is "Der Klassiker " in the Bundesliga as the league leaders Bayern take on 2nd place Dortmund .The german showdown will take place in the Allianz Arena . The last time these two teams faced each other was in the semifinals of the German Cup when Dortmund knocked out Bayern on penalties.Both teams are unbeaten this season in the Bundesliga but Bayern enjoy a 4 point lead as BVB drew both their previous games.This will also be Dortmund"s first game against Bayern since the departure of Jurgen Klopp .Dortmund endured a terrible time last season as they went from being one of Europe"s elite clubs to failing to qualify for the Champions League. Coach Thomas Tuchel has done a pretty good job with BVB so far this season . 

Lewandowski and Gotze will once again return to the Signal Iduna Park and both players have scored against their former club since moving to Bayern . Dortmund will have to definitely try and stop the beast that once played for them . Lewandowski  has scored 10 goals in his previous 3 matches including a 5 goal haul against Wolfsburg and a Champions League hat-trick against Dinamo Zagreb. Hummels will have to try and man mark his ex-teammate for this one . Muller and Douglas Costa will also be key players for Bayern Munich tomorrow and the 19 year old Kingsley Coman could also make his mark on the game . For BVB , their key player will be Aubameyang who has scored 9 goals in 7 appearances in the Bundesliga this season.

 The big question arises as to wheter Marco Reus will bring his A-game ? Reus who has been linked to almost every top club in Europe in the past 2 seasons including Bayern has bagged 2 goals and 1 assist in 5 league games this season . Reus  hasn't quite lived up to his first 2 seasons at BVB but Dortmund fans will be hoping he can find the back of the net against the World's no.1 keeper Manuel Neuer .

To sum things up , Dortmund will have to display a solid defensive performance along with some good attack if they are to beat the defending champions  in their own backyard  .Bayern Munich are the clear favourties for Sunday"s clash but you just can"t count BVB out. Thats's the beautiful thing about football.

Have Bayern Munich found the replacement for Franck Ribery ?

Have Bayern Munich found the replacement for Franck Ribery ?

Things are going remarkably well at the Allianz Arena and Bayern Munich are in terrific form grabbing 3 points in all their Bundesliga and Champions league games so far . Talking about the summer signing of Douglas Costa from Shakhtar Donetsk.  Douglas Costa has been superb , he has pace, agression, the infamous Brazilian tricks and he is turning out to be an assist machine for the German champions racking up 6 assists in 9 matches for Bayern in all competitive matches so far and has found the back of the net twice .Ribery is set to make his comeback soon in the coming weeks and the question arises will Douglas Costa keep Franck Ribery on the bench or woll Pep Guardiola play the both of them together ? Also with Robben set to make his return soon and with Kingsley Coman's impressive performance in the past few games  it's going to be interesting to see who Pep starts with . All I can say at this stage is if Douglas Costa keeps up his current form , there's no keep him out of the starting lineup . Douglas seems like the signing of the season for Bayern with the way he has fitted into Pep's system and he's soon becoming a fan favourite . And Ribery despite his unquestionable speed, trickery and vision will have to really prove that he can start for Bayern once again .