Champions League: Atleti to do a Job on Leverkusen

Bayer Leverkusen vs Atletico Madrid

Top plays bottom in Champions League Group B on Tuesday when Atletico Madrid head north through Western Europe to visit Bayer Leverkusen for a fascinating clash at the BayArena.

Only one game has been played in the competition so far, but while Atleti picked up their first three points at home to Porto, Die Werkself lost their match against Belgian side Club Brugges. And another win for Los Rojiblancos will put them firmly in charge of their destination.    

Atleti are ninth favourites to win the tournament at a SBOTOP price of 41.00, while Leverkusen are in the bottom half on the Champions League 2022 odds list but only just, and they could easily escape a wide open Group B, which also contains FC Porto and Club Brugge. But Bayer are stuttering at the moment; they have made a shaky start to the new Bundesliga campaign as well as losing their Champions League opener , while Atleti have made steady progress in La Liga.      

Talking Points

Atleti’s crazy Champions League start

You’d have to watch the Champions League 2022 highlights from last week to believe what happened at the Wanda Metropolitano. Los Rojiblancos won but that is only half the story. France star Antoine Griezmann climbed off the bench to bag a dramatic 101^st minute winner as all three goals were scored in a frantic stoppage time. Mario Hermoso gave Atleti the lead and the world expected a Diego Simeone 1-0 special, but Mateus Uribe levelled with a penalty on 96 minutes. Griezmann popped up to head home the winner from an Axel Witsel corner as the crowd erupted for a second time.

Before the game entered extra time it had been a frustrating night for the home fans as their side failed to register a shot on target in the second half, but the game changed when Porto’s Mehdi Teremi was sent off for a second yellow card for diving.     

That was a mad night, but Los Rojiblancos’ recent clash with Valencia revealed that Simeone’s side is still perfectly capable of a professional 1-0 win as Griezmann left the bench again to grab the winner. The France striker has featured in all five of Atleti’s games but hasn’t started any as the boss has preferred to start with Joao Felix and Alvaro Morata up front. 

At the back, Uruguay centre back Jose Gimenez is marshalling a defence which has conceded just three goals in the league and they will be hard to break down again on Tuesday.

After Real Madrid picked up last season’s Champions League as well as the La Liga title last season, The Red half of the city will be hoping their team can recapture the form which took them to the 2021 league title.    

Bayer not yet firing

Leverkusen head coach Gerardo Seoane cuts a frustrated figure at the moment as his team sits, surprisingly, in 15^th place in the Bundesliga table with just three points from the first five games, though they have a chance to add to that with a match away to Hertha Berlin on Saturday.

He thought his team had finally got going when they picked up an impressive 3-0 win away to Mainz, two weeks ago, as defender Jeremie Frimpong scored twice, but they followed that up with a defeat at home to Freiburg. Star striker Patrick Schick levelled at 2-2 but Freiburg took all three points when Ritsu Doan scored the winner from close range.

Against Brugges Seoane’s team dominated possession and won the shot count by 14 to nine but failed to score and, with the likes of Shick and Moussa Diaby up front, that is a little hard to work out. The boss is hoping he will get some creativity from on loan Chelsea winger Callum Hudson Odoi, who arrived in Leverkusen just before the transfer window closed.     

History

These two teams have met eight times since 2010 and there has been success for both sides with Atleti edging the head to heads by three to two and there have been three draws. They last met in the group stage of the 2019/20 Champions League when both teams won their home tie, Atleti won 1-0 in Madrid thanks to a late Alvaro Morata header and Leverkusen won 2-1 at the BayArena.

But in terms of recent form there couldn’t be a much bigger contrast. While Los Rojiblancos have lost just one of their last six games (at the time of writing), winning four and drawing one, Bayer have won just one and lost the other five.

And while Atleti have been unbeaten in their last six away games, Die Werkself have lost the last three at home, conceding eight goals in the process.    

Betting Tip

Bayer Leverkusen are at 2.81 to win this game with Atleti at 2.33 and the draw is available at 3.16. Bayer’s defence has been leaky at home but the odds on over 2.50 goals are at 2.05 with under 2.50 at 1.83. A 1-1 draw is the most likely result at odds of 5.03, but I’m backing Los Roijiblancos do their business with another 1-0.   

 

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