The Latest Years Of "Derbis" In Review

Real Madrid will go into tomorrow's game with a 12-year no loss streak against Atletico de Madrid. The white and red team has usually been the third best team in the Spanish league, but they have lost that role in favor of Valencia.

Two years ago, our neighbors won the Europe League and the Europe Supercup with Kun Agüero and Forlán. This summer they've sold both of them, but they now have Colombian striker Radamel Falcao and Diego Ribas, the former Werder Bremen attacker. They were supposed to improve, but Atletico has not yet performed at a higher level.

It was 1999 when Atlético Madrid last won a Derbi game against Real Madrid. With Seedorf, Roberto Carlos, Morientes and the like,  los blancos could just get a 1-3 loss at home against the Atlético de Madrid of Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink, Molina, Santi and Valerón.

Last year, we faced Atlético Madrid four times in the season, since we had to play them in the Copa del Rey. We won the four games, where were a good display of how much Atlético Madrid hate our team. Atleti fans chanted "Mourinho, die!" in the second leg of that Copa del Rey Playoff.

It's obvious that Atleti has faced some financial troubles this year. They needed to sell Fernando Torres first, and now Kun Agüero and Forlán. It's interesting that Fernando Torres didn't score a single goal to Iker Casillas until he was at Liverpool.

In the Pellegrini year, Arbeloa scored his first goal for Real Madrid scoring nicely from an unbelievable pass of Xabi Alonso. This was probably the best goal of last year's Derbis.

Madrid 3-2 Atleti Gol de Arbeloa a pase de Xabi Alonso (via vitoloevolution)

Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid share a history of trading players. José Antonio Reyes, now a colchonero, was in Cibeles when Real Madrid won the Liga under coach Fabio Capello. The Argentinian winger Solari also played for Atlético before he joined Real Madrid.

But the most known cases are Hugo Sánchez and Bernd Schuster's. While Schuster was brilliant in Atleti, he didn't shine as much in the Bernabeu because of the injuries he had in the past. Hugo's case was the opposite, because it was with Real Madrid that he succeeded, even scoring 38 first touch goals in one season. The Mexican player's transfer was one that Atleti fans hated. He had to be transferred to a Mexican team before he headed to the Bernabeu, but he never wore Pumas's shirt.

Kun's case was looking like it would be similar, but he finally went to Manchester City. Some journalists think the Argentinian will eventually play for Real Madrid, but if he plays like he is doing in Manchester, the sky blue team will not want to sell him to Real Madrid.

As you can see, Atletico Madrid hates Real Madrid with a passion. Los blancos hated Atleti as well, but these last years of victories have softened that feeling.

But don't get too confident. This is Atlético's biggest game of the season, and they will have to beat Real Madrid sometime. If Falcao is not cleared to play, Adrián will probably get the chance to start upfront. He is certainly a different striker than Falcao, but he will be able to cause some troubles to our defense.