Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone says his team's supporters will not even watch Saturday's La Liga Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid as they will be focused on their side's clash with Espanyol later in the day.
The Clasico is set to be viewed by an estimated global audience of around half a billion people, with La Liga working hard to market their product to fans as far away as India and China.
However the Colchoneros coach told a news conference that his own team's fans in the Spanish capital would not be spending their afternoon watching the "big two" meet.
"I don't believe that Atletico fans will watch the Clasico tomorrow, they will be thinking about Atletico's game against Espanyol," Simeone said. "That is the reality. The only thing we are interested in is our own game, and, from there what we do ourselves. We do not think about anything further."
La Liga's last big showpiece fixture was the derbi between Atletico and Madrid at the Estadio Vicente Calderon, where Zinedine Zidane's visitors eased to a 3-0 victory. Since then Simeone's side have won all three games across three different competitions, scoring 11 goals and conceding zero.
"A loss always hurts and, at the same time, within the team they have a strength of reaction and competitive spirit which makes this sport so great," the Argentine said. "We have lifted ourselves out of difficult situations before and this was important to do. We are slowly getting better, with our players picking up their rhythm."
Saturday sees the return of former Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores to the club which he guided to the Europa League and European Supercup trophies in 2010, with his current Espanyol side up to 12th in the table after seven La Liga games unbeaten.
"Quique has done important things as a coach at this club, in a period when it was not easy, when the club was not winning trophies," Simeone said. "I remember I went to see the [Supercup] final in Monaco against Inter Milan, as a fan, and his work was very good for sure.
"His Espanyol team are improving, they have good players, and that always helps."