Real Madrid are looking to maintain their lead and widen the gap with their stubborn neighbors Atletico Madrid when they visit the derby in the seventh stage of the competition.
While the Royal, under the leadership of French coach Zinedine Zidane, who has been rid of a great deal of pressure that surrounded him at the beginning of the season, to win this game and expand the difference, the "Atlante", under the leadership of Argentine coach Diego Simeone to remove Real from the top Derby, at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium.
A 3-0 defeat by Paris St Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday sparked controversy over Real and fierce criticism against Zidane, but the team beat Sevilla and Osasuna this week and returned to the right track in the domestic championship.
Despite the defensive side that has drawn huge criticism from the masses and the media, Los Blancos have not lost a game in La Liga so far, and this is what they seek to maintain against the Rojeblancos, especially as the defeat against Atletico will bring back criticism against the players and their coach More.
Both sides have rebuilt their ranks this year, with Real investing around 300 million euros in the transfer market, while Atletico have signed several players, including Joao Felix, the fourth most expensive player in the world, and the highest deal in the club's history.
Zidane relied on a team of several reserve players in Wednesday's Osasuna match to ensure top players such as Gareth Bale, Eden Hazard and Karim Benzema were rested before facing Atletico.
"We are in the lead now, but that doesn't mean anything. The most important thing is to continue this way," Zidane said.
"We are getting better from day to day, and we want to continue to work in such a strong and coherent way. When we lose the ball, everyone works to get it back.
Zidane evaded the direct answer to a question about the fall of the Royal Club against the "Atlético" 3-7 in a friendly during the preparations for the new season, saying: "We recognize the difficulty of the game, and we have to do a lot of things; Well, what happened has happened, what matters to us is the match and the three points. "
"This kind of player (Hazard) is always ready to play these games, because he has a competitive spirit, and I was not afraid for him for one moment, nor from the other players."
Atletico, meanwhile, won 2-0 at Real Mallorca on Wednesday.
Atletico are missing striker Alvaro Morata, who was sent off at Mallorca on Sunday, but what reassures them that dangerous striker Diego Costa has regained his scoring sense, and scored his first goal against Mallorca, the first goal for Costa since March.
"We know that the attackers live on goals, this goal is very important for him and the team, and I am happy that he needed a goal, he is one of our most important offensive players and if our attackers play well it will be easy for us to win," Simeone said.
Simeone stressed that the summit of the Spanish capital will be a closed meeting as is the case with the previous games, and resolved by the parties through small details.
Simeone also pointed out that Real Madrid have many senior players in their ranks, who can pose a threat to his team if they succeed in exploiting the spaces.