UEFA Champions League: Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid preview

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April 13th, 2015
Back UEFA Champions League: Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid preview

Champions League holders Real Madrid face city rivals Atletico on Tuesday in a rematch of last season's final. Last summer Real prevailed against their rivals, clinching their 10th European crown. However, since that lost final, Diego Simeone and his men have not been defeated again by Real in six matches. Atletico beat their rivals twice in the league, including a crushing 4-0 success in february, and also prevailed in the other two encounters over two legs in the Spanish Cuper Cup and Copa Del Rey.

Atletico have not managed to be as impressive as they were last season in the Primera Liga, another title is now out of the question. Their last match was a 2-2 draw away at Malaga, which left Atletico nine points behind the league leaders. The previous round was not easy for Simeone and his team as they needed a penalty shootout to squeeze past Bayer Leverkusen after a 1-1 aggregate draw. Striker Mario Mandzukic should be fit to play after an ankle injury, so Fernando Torres might be placed on the bench.

Real Madrid seem to have recovered after a bad patch which saw them grab just four league points out of 12 last month. They also came close to a shocking Champions League elimination at the hands of Schalke. Now they have snatched three consecutive wins, scoring 14 goals and letting in just one. They are two points behind Primera Liga leaders Barcelona. Gareth Bale is expected to play after missing last weekend's 3-0 win against Eibar. Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez are also available after serving out their suspensions.

Probable line-ups:

Atletico Madrid: Oblak - Gamez, Miranda, Gimenez, Juanfran - Tiago, Koke, Turan, Gabi, Griezmann - Mandzukic

Real Madrid: Casillas - Arbeloa, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo - Kroos, James, Modric- Bale, Ronaldo, Benzema

My prediction: Atletico to win 2-1.

Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:

Atletico win - 2.87 Draw - 3.30 Real win - 2.70

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