CD Leganés - Atlético de Madrid: The second half begins

Atlético Madrid (13-5-1, 44 points), LaLiga’s winter champion, continue to lead Real Madrid by the slimmest margin possible — one point separates the two rivals. Madrid host Las Palmas on Sunday, the day before Los Blancos and Los Rojiblancos could be paired together in Monday’s Copa del Rey quarterfinal draw.

“I didn’t see (Madrid’s controversial win over Celta Vigo) yesterday, but I was told that there were incidents like there have been for 100 years,” Diego Simeone told reporters on Friday. “I don’t know what is surprising about that.”

Leganés (4-7-8, 19 points) have won only one of its past six games in LaLiga — but it doesn’t get much bigger than that one win, away to FC Barcelona, in all of Spanish football. At Butarque though it has been a different story for Borja Jiménez’s men: only Valencia have picked up fewer points at its home ground this season. However, Atlético do not have a good recent record away to Leganés; Simeone’s men have won one and draw three from its four visits to Butarque since Lega first returned to LaLiga in 2016, but enter this match having won each of their past nine away games in all competitions.

“I see Leganés as a dangerous team, at home it took us a lot of effort to get through the match,” Simeone said, recalling October’s 3-1 comeback win at the Metropolitano over this opponent. “Their coach works hard, and that has to be valued because it can be seen in how his team plays. They had an important victory in the Cup (against Almería on Wednesday) and victories always generate a stimulus.”

Potential team news: one injured CB to return, Sørloth and Riquelme out

Atlético will not have forward Alexander Sørloth for its visit to Leganés; the Norway international was withdrawn at halftime on Wednesday after scoring Atleti’s first two goals in the 4-0 win over Elche. Sørloth has been playing through a “moderate injury” and is doubtful for Tuesday’s crunch Champions League clash against German champions Bayer Leverkusen.

Josema Giménez and Clément Lenglet are both expected back in the squad for Saturday afternoon’s game; Lenglet was tested in Simeone’s 11 during training on Friday. Giménez’s return will be more “gradual”, as Simeone and fitness coach Luis Piñedo are loath to rush the Uruguayan back into action given his injury history.

After resting at Elche, Antoine Griezmann and Pablo Barrios will return to the 11 on Saturday; Atlético have a 15-2-0 record in Barrios’ starts this season and have won the past 13 games that the 21-year-old has started. Giuliano Simeone should return to the lineup as well after resting in midweek, while Samuel Lino could keep his place in the side after an encouraging display at the Martínez Valero.

Finally, in an unfortunate development, Rodrigo Riquelme will miss out on the Leganés game after he took ill on Saturday. Riquelme only just scored his first goal of the season, ending an eight-month drought with a long-range golazo on Wednesday.