Karim Benzema will not play in the Madrid derby. Jan Oblak will. And as for Antoine Griezmann, he’ll do both. You never know exactly what will happen when Atlético Madrid host Real Madrid, not any more at least, but on Sunday night at the Metropolitano there is one thing you can be reasonably sure of: on the hour, the man wearing the red and white shirt with the No 8 on the back will be standing at the side of the pitch, glancing up at the clock, waiting to run on, his time having rolled around again, which it always does.
Every three or four days it is the same and although they did not expect to still be here deep into September and would like it to change soon, it isn’t going to just yet.
