For the last few years, Spanish soccer has prided itself on dominant midfield play. While Barcelona was the earliest adopter of this style, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have caught on and have a crop of impressive midfielders. But which side will dominate the midfield in the Champions League final? Here is a comparison between the two contenders.

Under manager Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid has developed into a dynamic midfield squad. The team has managed to master the Barcelona-style possession game but has also retained a tremendous counter attack. Atletico tends to play more on the counterattack, but has the ability to lay siege to an opposing net with possession.

The expectation in this game is that Real Madrid will likely control the ball for most of the game as they did in the first two Spanish League matches against Atletico. Back on Sept. 28, Los Blancos possessed the ball for 63 percent of the time; on March 2, the team had 64 percent of possession Of course, Ancelotti could pull off the surprise of being more direct in his approach for this game to catch his opponent's defense off guard.

Real Madrid's top midfielders are Angel Di Maria, Luka Modric, Xabi Alonso, Isco and Asier Illarramendi. Early on in the year, the team struggled without Alonso but his return spurred the team to greater heights. In fact, Madrid went nearly 30 games undefeated with Alonso back in the lineup. However, the veteran will not be available for the final due to a yellow card he acquired in the semifinal against Bayern Munich. In his place, expect young Illarramendi to get the call. Alonso has been arguably Madrid's most essential playmaker, but the team could still be well off with Di Maria and Modric playing at the way they have played all season long. Di Maria has scored four goals and 15 assists for Madrid this season and has been arguably the best player for this team after Cristiano Ronaldo. His speed and crafty passing has often unlocked opposing defenses with relative ease. While his average passing success rate of 82.1 is not among the best in the team, his selection of passes in the offensive zone is generally lethal.

Modric's 90.2 passing success rate is the best among all Madrid midfielders. He averages about 61 passes per game and rarely makes a mistake with the ball on his foot. Moreover, he is not just a one-dimensional passer. Modric has speed and a terrific shot that he utilizes from time to time. Just ask Manchester United how it felt about Modric's long range blast in the second leg of the round of 16 matchup. Modric only has two goals and eight assists this season for Madrid.

Illarramendi will be the wild card here. He has to step into Alonso's shoes as the holding midfielder and his responsibilities will be to retain possession in the midfield and make the key pass into the offensive end. He has had a decent year for the team but has hardly been remarkable. His passing success rate stands at 89.1 percent, which is good for his position and expectations.

Isco is more of an offensive presence but he has been tried deeper in the midfield to help with defensive duties. It was at this position that he helped set up the first Madrid goal against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final. However, he had more mixed results at this position against Munich and was more of a liability. He is more dynamic at the forward position and it is likely that if he plays it will be up front. Isco has 11 goals and seven assists this season and has an 88.9 percent passing success rate.

It will be interesting to see if Sami Khedira gets a look instead of either Isco or Illarramendi. Khedira is a holding midfielder but was injured for a long period of time this season. He recently played his first game since October and could be a huge asset if he is at his best.

Atletico Madrid's midfield is also filled with a plethora of top players. Koke is the finest of them all and leads the team with 15 assists. Gabi is second with 11 assists. After those two the team's midfield possesses such talents as Arda Turan, Tiago, Raul Garcia and Mario Suarez. Suarez and Diego are the two best passers in the midfield with 83.2 and 82.5 success rates respectively. Meanwhile Garcia is lethal offensively with 13 goals on the year; only forward Diego Costa have more goals on the team.

Who has the edge?

Both teams have terrific collections of midfielders, but Real Madrid possesses better passers. Both teams possess ample speed while Atletico Madrid has a lethal offensive goal scorer in Garcia. With Alonso in the lineup, Real Madrid has the more cohesive midfield presence; without him the team loses a great deal of its punch. This is even.