Madrid (AFP)

Attention, buildings still fragile! Diego Simeone's Atletico and Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid test their solidity in the Madrid derby in the Spanish league on Saturday (21h00 / 19h00 GMT), with first place in the game ... and a risk of collapse for two teams in reconstruction.

In a Metropolitano stadium that still smells of new and fresh paint, this century-old confrontation has undergone a profound facelift in recent months: exit Antoine Griezmann or Cristiano Ronaldo, hello João Félix and Eden Hazard!

After a resounding first friendly confrontation at the end of July (7-3 victory of "Colchoneros"), the start of the season was hectic for both clubs, which suffered a period of doubt after the defeat of Real against Paris SG in the league champions (3-0) and a series of three games without a win for Atlético.

But the two rivals then turned their course to settle at the head of La Liga before the 7th day this weekend.

Real Madrid are first (14 pts) ahead of Real Sociedad (2nd, 13 pts) and Atlético (3rd, 13 pts), while FC Barcelona, ​​opposite Saturday in Getafe, is only sixth (10 pts). As a result, the shock of Saturday could solidify the ambitions of one of the two clubs of Madrid before returning to the Champions League next week.

"We are leaders but that does not mean anything," Zinédine Zidane warned Wednesday, recalling that rebuilding the "White House" was a long-term process. "All this takes time, we were not so bad last week (after Paris), and we are not so good today," he said.

- Hazard can do better -

Back in March to rebuild the merengue workforce, the architect Zidane managed to seal his first cracks by chaining two convincing victories to clear the defeat of Paris: 1-0 in Seville, 2-0 against Osasuna.

And the French coach put all the odds on his side before the derby by returning to his dear rotation policy, which had borne fruit in his first term (2016-2018): the usual substitutes had their chance against Osasuna, with two goals for young Brazilian Vinicius and Rodrygo.

What to tackle with frames rested the shock against Atlético, which offers a chance to shine to top scorer Liga Karim Benzema (5 goals), the former banned Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard, transferred from Chelsea for more EUR 100 million this summer and is highly anticipated on Saturday.

"We know which player we have recruited, we know he will answer present," Zidane promised on Friday. "Of course everyone expects a lot more from him, he knows it, but we're with him, he's with us, let's go game after game, he'll be the player we dream of at Real."

- Diego Costa in bulldozer -

At Atletico too, the masonry is still apparent. Not easy to let go of such important frames as Griezmann, Diego Godin or Lucas Hernandez ...

All Simeone deserves is to have once again given his book on the job, as he has done so often since his arrival in 2011. He also asked a little indulgence to his supporters.

"I know the people at the + Atleti +, they are demanding," he admitted last week. "But when there have been such important player changes, you have to find a team as quickly as possible - it's not easy, it takes time."

Saturday, Simeone and Atlético expect much of their main reinforcement João Felix (19), recruited against 126 million euros and has already shown good things with two goals and a decisive pass in six days.

And since the former merengue striker Alvaro Morata will be suspended on Saturday, it is the Hispano-Brazilian forward Diego Costa, scorer Wednesday in Majorca (2-0), who will play the bulldozers to free space for the young prodigy Portuguese. A demolisher to better rebuild?

© 2019 AFP