Vinicius starts for Real Madrid as Julian Alvarez drops to Atletico bench

Jose Mourinho has named Vinicius Junior in Real Madrid’s starting line-up for Sunday’s Madrid derby against Atletico Madrid in the seventh round of La Liga.

The match sees Aurelien Tchouameni return to the Real Madrid starting XI, while Portugal international Bernardo Silva is among the substitutes.

Arda Guler, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior will lead the attack for the visitors. Federico Valverde, Tchouameni and Jude Bellingham have been selected in midfield.

Real Madrid’s confirmed line-up is:

Goalkeeper: Thibaut Courtois.

Defenders: Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konate, Dean Huijsen, Marc Cucurella.

Midfielders: Federico Valverde, Aurelien Tchouameni, Jude Bellingham.

Forwards: Arda Guler, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior.

Atletico Madrid, managed by Argentine Diego Simeone, have also confirmed their team for the capital derby.

Jan Oblak starts in goal, while Lee Kang-in and Jonathan David are named in attack. Julian Alvarez begins the game on the bench.

Atletico Madrid’s line-up is:

Goalkeeper: Jan Oblak.

Defenders: Marcos Llorente, David Hancko, Marc Pubill, Cristian Romero.

Midfielders: Johnny Cardoso, Alex Baena, Giuliano Simeone, Alejandro Grimaldo.

Forwards: Lee Kang-in, Jonathan David.

Real Madrid go into the match second in the La Liga table with 15 points, six points behind leaders Barcelona.

Atletico have collected 13 points from their opening fixtures and occupy fourth place in the standings.

The derby therefore brings together two sides near the top of the table, with Real Madrid seeking to close the gap on Barcelona and Atletico attempting to move closer to the leading positions.