🏏 Sat, 10 Oct 2026 16:15 CEST
Deportivo Alavés
vs
Atletico Madrid
3-5-2 vs 4-4-2
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- Sixth-placed Alaves host second-placed Atletico Madrid. The hosts have 11 points from seven matches (3W-2D-2L) with 11 goals scored and six conceded for a +5 difference, while Atletico sit on 16 points (5W-1D-1L) with a +9 difference from 16 goals scored. With Barcelona already five points clear on 21, Diego Simeone's side can ill afford a slip on the road.
- Alaves looked in fine shape after beating Villarreal 1-0 and thrashing Osasuna 5-2 at home in rounds three and four, but they have since lost 2-1 away at Racing Santander and 1-0 at home to Valencia before a goalless draw at Athletic Club in round seven. Three matches without a win is the run they must end in front of their own supporters.
- Atletico were dismantled 3-0 at Athletic Club in round four, yet they have responded with three straight victories: 3-0 away at Real Sociedad, 4-0 at home to Osasuna and a 2-1 derby win over Real Madrid in round seven. Nine goals scored and only one conceded across that run makes them the form side heading into Vitoria.
- Giuliano Simeone returns to a former club. The 23-year-old Argentina international spent a loan spell at Alaves, and also played for Real Zaragoza, before establishing himself in his father's first team. Quick and direct, he is at his best running at defenders from wide areas, which makes his duel down the flank one of the afternoon's key battles.
- He is not the only one with Alaves on his CV. Marcos Llorente, deployed in the back four here, also had a spell at the Basque club; the 31-year-old is a Real Madrid academy product, a Champions League winner and a relentless runner who can fill in anywhere from central midfield to right-back. Alaves have their own Atletico alumni in 32-year-old Jonny and 187cm midfielder Mamadou Diallo on the bench.
- Atletico's front two pairs Jonathan David with Ademola Lookman. The Canada striker, his country's all-time leading scorer, arrived on deadline day in summer 2026 on loan from Juventus with an option to buy, having helped Lille win Ligue 1 in 2020-21; he finishes with either foot and lives on the shoulder of the last defender. Lookman, the Nigeria winger who scored a hat-trick in a Europa League final, supplies the dribbling threat.
- Alaves counter with the 187cm Toni Martinez alongside Argentine Lucas Boye. Martinez spent four years at Porto and offers a genuine target-man presence in the air, while Boye, a Copa Libertadores winner with River Plate, leads the press from the front. They will have to get past Cristian Romero, a World Cup winner and his side's defensive leader, and Euro 2024 champion Robin Le Normand, with 33-year-old Slovenia international Jan Oblak, one of La Liga's elite shot-stoppers, behind them.
- The midfield contrast is between craft and continuity. Denis Suarez, 30, with Barcelona, Arsenal and Villarreal in his past, is the hosts' creator, flanked by Real Madrid Castilla graduate Antonio Blanco and Osasuna-raised ball-winner Pablo Ibanez. Atletico answer with 34-year-old club legend Koke, past 700 appearances for the only club he has known, alongside 23-year-old academy product Pablo Barrios and former Real Betis holder Joao Cardoso.
- Alaves line up in a 3-5-2 against Atletico's 4-4-2, so the wide areas should decide the balance. Vitoria-born Moroccan Abdelkabir Rebbach, a right-footer who cuts in from the left, and 24-year-old Angel Perez on the opposite side give the hosts width. Atletico's thrust comes from Alex Grimaldo, the left-back whose delivery helped Bayer Leverkusen go unbeaten to the Bundesliga title, matched against the two-footed Jonny.
- The benches tell their own story. Atletico can introduce 2022 World Cup winner Julian Alvarez, 196cm Norway striker Alexander Sorloth, former La Liga assist king Alex Baena and Lee Kang-in, the Korea playmaker who became PSG's first Korean signing. Alaves reply with La Masia-schooled left-footer Carles Alena and 33-year-old Marko Diaz, a Champions League winner during his Real Madrid days.