Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres. (Photo : Getty Images)
Second-running squad Atletico Madrid (25-5-4, 79 points) will look to extend their winning streak to five games and continue to contend for the 2015-2016 La Liga title as they clash with middling squad Malaga CF (10-12-12, 42 points) at the Vicente Calderon Stadium on April 23rd, Saturday.
Atletico Madrid is now tied on points with league leaders FC Barcelona at the top of the league table, but their goal differential of +42 is lesser than Barça's +67, making them settle for second place at the moment.
Los Colchoneros nipped Athletic Bilbao, 1-0, in their most recent match of the Spanish top flight held at the San Mamés Stadium on Wednesday, as per SkySports.
Spanish striker Fernando Torres, on loan from AC Milan, provided the lone goal of the contest at the 38th minute which proved to be enough for head coach Diego Simeone's squad to come away with the victory.
The win is the fourth straight of Atleti and their eight in their last nine outings. Barça had come off a three-game losing slide that allowed the capital city team to level with them in the overall standings.
Meanwhile, Malaga forced a 1-1 draw with lowly squad Rayo Vallecano at their home field of La Rosaleda Stadium also on Wednesday, as reported by ESPN.
The visitors scored the first goal of the match as Rayo midfielder Raúl Baena shot one past goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa at the 62nd minute after a scoreless first half.
It looked like Los Franjirrojos is going to pull off an upset win on the road as they held on to the lead until full time, but Los Boquerones left back Federico Ricca slotted a left-footed shot one minute into the stoppage time to equalize the game and have a share of a point in the standings.
Atleti is known to have the stingiest defense in the league at the moment and they are expected to give the Albicelestes a lot of trouble offensively in this match.
The predicted result is a 2-0 win for Atletico Madrid.
Atletico Madrid starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Oblak; Juanfran, Savic, Godin, Luis; Thomas, Fernandez, Koke, Niguez; Torres, Griezmann
Malaga starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Ochoa; Rosales, Albentosa, Weligton, Ricca; Juanpi, Recio, Camacho, Castro; Charles, Cop
