The first Madrid derby to be played at the Wanda Metropolitano is one of the most important in recent memory.

Putting aside the two Champions League finals for the moment, the loser of Saturday’s match could already be staring at the abyss as far as La Liga is concerned. Yes really.

Barcelona are also in town earlier in the day as they head to Leganes. While a positive result for the blaugrana is by no means a foregone conclusion — as Atletico Madrid will themselves attest — should Ernesto Valverde’s side come away with all three points, then it would put them 11 ahead of the Madrid derby losers.

Should Real Madrid and Atleti battle to a draw and Barca win, it would put the Catalans 10 points ahead of both; which may be preferable for the table-toppers.

Either way, it would be a disaster for at least one of the Madrid clubs.

Zinedine Zidane had a stated aim at the start of 2017/18 to deliver all six trophies played for, and match Barca’s own sextuple back in 2009. A quite unbelievable start to this season for the double winners has already put those ambitions in jeopardy.

If anything, the situation is even more acute across the city because Diego Simeone’s side simply have to win this game.

A poor Champions League campaign so far leaves their future participation hanging by a thread, and given that their fate could be known just a few days after the derby, Cholo won’t want his club’s entire season to crumble within the space of a week.

Zidane had been looking forward to having 14 days to work with his BBC strike force, across the international break. Cristiano Ronaldo had asked to remain in Madrid rather than play friendlies with Portugal, Karim Benzema wasn’t picked by France and Gareth Bale had been assuaged by his coach not to join up with the Welsh national team.

Manna from heaven for Real Madrid.

That was until Bale collapsed on the training pitch on Friday afternoon with another injury that will keep him out until at least the New Year.

It meant that one of the issues that had bothered Zidane since the start of the campaign — the shape of the team — is back on the agenda again.

With Bale back in situ, the Frenchman could’ve reverted to his preferred 4-3-3 and perhaps seen an upsurge in performance levels and results.

Now, it’s back to the likely continuation of a 4-4-2, clearly a formation that Zidane isn’t entirely comfortable with. Unlike Simeone, who swears by it.

His group of players too, are well drilled in the nuances of a set-up that many would suggest is ‘old school.’

For a game that normally guarantees goals, it’s astonishing that we are in the middle of November and Ronaldo, Benzema and Antoine Griezmann only have four league goals between them.

This Madrid derby therefore represents the perfect stage for one of them to put their name back up in lights again.

It may not be a game for the purist, and expect the opening exchanges to be as frenetic as anything you’ve seen so far this season, but rest assured, the narrative ensures that this titanic tussle will be as absorbing as always.

— The writer is an expert on Spanish football