The Wanda Metropolitano will see Atletico Madrid host Liverpool on Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League.
We look at stats to predict the match.
Atletico Madrid are currently sitting on second in their group with a win and a draw from two matches. With a strong domestic performance so far this season, the defending Spanish champions would definitely look to continue their good form even at the European stage and beating Liverpool might just be the best way to assert dominance for Diego Simeone’s men.
Atletico has drawn with FC Porto at home in the UCL in the first match and in the next match left it really late in the match to make a comeback against AC Milan away from home. They have scored two goals so far, Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann scoring one each while just conceding one goal yet.
In the above viz, the xT timeline from the last UCL match can be seen. Even though after conceding in the early minutes of the match, Atletico Madrid came back really strongly and dominated the whole of the match. In the second half, Atletico completely overshadowed a ten-man Milan, to ensure a comeback from a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1 in the injury time courtesy of a Luis Suarez spot-kick.
Atletico have done this not just once, but many times in La Liga as well, striking back right at the dead-end of the match to get away with a draw or win the match. The willingness to not give up till the end has really helped Simeone’s men so far and it will help them ten folds against Liverpool’ high pressing system where they have certainly failed to keep on the press for 90 minutes.
Liverpool are one of the most in-form sides in the world right now. They are unbeaten both in the Premier League and UCL and come into this match on the back of a 0-5 win over Watford on Saturday. Jurgen Klopp’s men are one of the most well-rounded and drilled team in Europe and are most certainly eager to avenge their defeat they faced last time at the stadium.
The Reds are on top of the group with two wins in two matches. They have scored eight goals so far with the front three of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane all having their names on the score sheet. Salah is in the form of his life and has scored three goals already being the top scorer. He will definitely be one of the biggest menaces for the Atletico defence.
The image at the top shows the sheer dominance Liverpool showed on their 1-5 thumping of FC Porto away from home. They dominated every single attacking metric from the match and will again look to outscore their opponents. Liverpool were miles ahead of Porto as a team, both offensively and defensively, a side Atletico drew against at home. Keeping Atletico’s struggles in UCL till now in mind, Liverpool is obviously going to be their biggest challenge as Klopp and his men have been able to break every single defence they have faced so far.
It is going to be a high-voltage interesting match between two teams -one of which believes in defensive stability first and the other believes that attack is the best defence.
We predict a 1-2 victory for Liverpool.
Predicted Lineups
Liverpool (4-3-3) : Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Milner, Mane, Jota, Salah.
Atletico Madrid (3-1-4-2) : Oblak, Gimenez, Savic, Hermoso, Koke, Llorente, de Paul, Lemar, Carrasco, Felix, Suarez.
