Atletico Madrid will be looking to bounce back from their heavy Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich when they continue their Group A campaign at home to Red Bull Salzburg on Tuesday night.
Diego Simeone's side lost 4-0 to Bayern in their group opener last week, while Salzburg started their 2020-21 European campaign with a 2-2 draw at home to Lokomotiv Moscow.
Match preview
© Reuters
Atletico will be determined to put three points on the board on Tuesday night, having opened their Group A challenge with a heavy defeat in Munich. The holders Bayern are fancied by many to win the trophy once again, but there is no question that Simeone would have been disappointed with the four-goal loss.
The Spanish giants returned to winning ways on Saturday, though, as goals from Marcos Llorente and Luis Suarez handed them a 2-0 home success over Real Betis in La Liga.
Atletico have made an encouraging start to their domestic campaign, picking up 11 points from five matches to sit second in the table, and this season could present an excellent opportunity to win the league as Real Madrid and Barcelona both have their problems.
The Red and Whites impressively overcame Liverpool in the last-16 stage of the 2019-20 Champions League, but they came up short against Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig in the quarter-finals, losing 2-1.
Atletico have won 19 of their last 32 European matches during a strong run of form, while they have reached five European finals in the last 11 seasons, including two in the Champions League.
© Reuters
Salzburg, meanwhile, have started their domestic campaign in impressive fashion, winning all five of their Austrian Bundesliga matches to top the table.
The Red Bulls are currently the dominant force in Austrian football, winning each of the last seven championships, but they were held to a 2-2 draw by Lokomotiv Moscow in their Group A opener last week.
It is going to be a tough task for Salzburg to book their spot in the knockout round of this season's Champions League, but a win at the Wanda Metropolitano on Tuesday night would certainly hand them a lot of confidence.
Jesse Marsch's side finished third in their 2019-20 Champions League group, picking up a respectable seven points from six matches against Liverpool, Napoli and Genk, before losing to Eintracht Frankfurt in the last-32 stage of the Europa League.
Salzburg have actually never faced Atletico in European competition, but they picked up a 2-2 draw with Real Sociedad when they last travelled to Spain in the 2017-18 Europa League.
Atletico Madrid Champions League form: LWWWLL
Atletico Madrid form (all competitions): WDDWLW
Red Bull Salzburg Champions League form: DWLWWD
Red Bull Salzburg form (all competitions): WWWWDW
Team News
© Reuters
Atletico will again be without the services of Diego Costa and Sime Vrsaljko through injury, while Saul Niguez remains a doubt for the home side.
Jose Gimenez is yet to make a single appearance this season after being diagnosed with coronavirus and then picking up a muscular issue, but the centre-back was on the bench against Betis and could now make the XI.
Joao Felix started on the bench against Betis on Saturday but should return in the final third of the field, while Renan Lodi and Yannick Carrasco are also expected to make the XI.
As for Salzburg, Antoine Bernede remains on the sidelines with a broken leg, but the Austrian side are otherwise in good shape when it comes to absentees for this contest.
The visitors, who have scored 19 times in five domestic games this season, are likely to have Patson Daka and Sekou Koita as a front two, and the pair have been full of goals in the early stages of 2020-21, finding the back of the net on 17 occasions between them.
Dominik Szoboszlai, who was linked with a number of clubs over the summer, has also been in fine form this season, scoring four times and registering seven assists in nine appearances in all competitions, and the reported Arsenal target should line up in a wide area.
Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Trippier, Savic, Gimenez, Lodi; Correa, Torreira, Koke, Carrasco; Felix, Suarez
Red Bull Salzburg possible starting lineup:
Stankovic; Vallci, Ramalho, Wober, Ulmer; Mwepu, Camara, Junuzovic, Szoboszlai; Koita, Daka
We say: Atletico Madrid 2-0 Red Bull Salzburg
Salzburg are certainly capable of making it a very uncomfortable 90 minutes for Atletico, who will be desperate to bounce back from their heavy defeat to Munich. We are expecting a tight match at the Wanda Metropolitano but fancy Simeone's side to collect all three points courtesy of a two-goal success.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:dataData Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Atletico Madrid win with a probability of 60.11%. A draw had a probability of 24.7% and a win for Red Bull Salzburg had a probability of 15.15%.
The most likely scoreline for an Atletico Madrid win was 1-0 with a probability of 16.72%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (13.37%) and 2-1 (8.81%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.01%), while for a Red Bull Salzburg win it was 0-1 (6.89%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 1.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Atletico Madrid would win this match.
