High stakes in last ever Madrid derby at the Vicente Calderon

Atletico Madrid’s famous old Vicente Calderon stadium is not situated in one of the wealthiest quarters of the Spanish capital and the stereotype of their club’s supporters is that they are the poorer relations of their Real rivals.

Prices for Saturday’s derby are now ranging between €90 and €700 though. There’s a reason, apart from the usual reason of over-charging supporters: it will be the last ever 'derbi madrileño' in La Liga at the old stadium.

The next home derby for Atletico Madrid will be at the out-of-town Olympic Stadium, La Peineta. It’s a €200m upgrade on their current 50-year-old home and there will be 12,000 more seats, but it will not be the same.

Diego Simeone is sure to remind his players of all this as they take to the pitch on Saturday; that and the fact that defeat would leave them nine points behind Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid. They need to win to honour their grand old arena and to keep their title hopes alive.

Real Madrid won at the Calderon so many times before Simeone turned up to manage the club that they almost get to keep the stadium – the Real Madrid players and club officials will be offered miniature versions of the Calderon after Saturday’s 90 minutes.

The first game Atleti played at their current home was on October 2, 1966 when they faced Valencia. Luis Aragones headed in the first ever goal in the new ground, then called the Manzanares after the shallow river that runs past the ground. But despite taking the lead the game ended in a draw. It was the first disappointment of many over the years – ‘Melancholics Way’ that leads down to the main stand was often aptly named. But Simone has changed the dynamic in recent years, and against Real Madrid – heartbreakingly Champions League finals aside – there has been a power shift.

Not since Jose Mourinho in 2013 have Real Madrid beaten Atletico in the league at the Calderon. In six Liga encounters Simeone has finished the happier of the two managers. And the fixture has even been a death knell for Real Madrid bosses.

In 2015 Carlo Ancelotti oversaw a 4-0 defeat and took a massive step towards the end-of-season sacking that eventually came his way. Last season the first grumbles of discontent were heard against Rafa Benitez when his team took the lead but he then chose to defend the narrow margin and finished up drawing the game. A lot happened before he was eventually fired at the turn of the year, but defending a 1-0 lead at the home of the bitter local rivals was neither ever forgotten nor forgiven.

So Zidane comes into the game knowing that for all the credit he now has in the bank after taking the team to the top of the table, he needs the right performance and the right result to stay in the black.

He has the difficult decision to make of whether to stick with the favoured 4-3-3 (which enables him to play the Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo attack) or play a midfield quartet to match-up with Atletico’s middle four. Were holding midfielder Casemiro and Germany international Toni Kroos fit he might gamble on the three but neither will be available so he could decide to draft Bale back into midfield or even play Marco Asensio or Lucas Vazquez and leave Benzema out. Alvaro Morata is already due to miss the fixture after picking up a hamstring injury against England in midweek.

Whatever decision Zidane makes, the game could well be won or lost in the duel between Antoine Griezmann and Sergio Ramos. Ramos twisted knee ligaments on October 9 playing for Spain against Albania but looks set to make his comeback six weeks on. And he will do so against Griezmann providing the Atleti forward overcomes the bruised foot sustained for France against Sweden last week. Ramos’ return is timely. He comes back like the ghost of Champions League finals past – that 93rd-minute equalizing header from the 2014 final and his goal in last season’s game.

Simeone has said before that nothing in his career will ever make up for falling short in the final of Europe’s biggest club competition twice against the neighbours. Winning the league in the final season at the Calderon would still be some achievement - and winning the last ever home league derby at the Vicente Calderon would be special too.