Jornada 6: Atlético Madrid v Osasuna

First and foremost, this will be Raul Garcia’s first game against his boyhood club. He looks forward to it, calling it ‘special’ and ‘strange’ to go against his ex-teammates. When asked if he’d celebrate if he scored a goal, he said he would be happy, but he certainly wouldn’t celebrate it, out of respect. Completely understandable. To be honest, I think it’s bad form when a player celebrates a goal scored against an ex-club.

Important Things To Consider
With Perea out, Pablo needs a new centre-back partner. Aguirre has two choices: Eller or Ze Castro. Of the two, I’d choose Ze Castro because he is more reliable than Eller, based on recent performances. AS breaks it down differently: Eller might be viewed as a good option by Aguirre because he’s taller than Ze Castro and could probably clear out aerial attacks better. On the other hand, Eller lacks pace and would struggle against the likes of young striker Portillo.

Maxi back to the starting 11?
I don’t doubt for one minute that Maxi wants to regain his starting position. He is after all, captain of the team! On the other hand, he has been poor for us– should an exception be made for this game? Should we continue to use him as a sub until he shows signs of improvement? Maxi is one of my favourite players and nothing would please me more than to see him back in the squad, playing at the level that he did pre-injury.

Rotations
Will Luis Garcia receive a starting 11 spot this Sunday or soon? It’s unclear, but he’s a constant contributor to the team and has an eye for goal. Let’s see how it goes: Aguirre has said time and time again that he plans on rotating squads in order to keep players fit for all competitions.

Bottom-line: this is an absolute must-win fixture. We travel to Barcelona in round 7, which will be a tough game.

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