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1/8 final of the Champions League
23 of February. National Arena Bucharest (Romania)
Chief Referee – Felix Brykh
Athletic 22:00 Chelsea
Television broadcast – Football 1, Megogo
The rivalry between Atlético and Chelsea is one of the most intriguing in the first round of the playoffs. Due to the coronavirus restrictions, Atlético will be forced to play their home game in Bucharest: the Spanish authorities did not allow the Blues to enter the country due to the spread of the new COVID-19 seal in the United Kingdom, so play moved to neutral. field. Even in the absence of fans in the stands, this can be a significant factor in favor of the British.
Until recently, “Atlético” had an exemplary performance in La Liga, building a solid lead over the crisis of “Real” and “Barcelona”. The main reasons for its success were the team’s transition to a 3-5-2 formation and the summer signing of Luis Suárez (16 goals in 20 league games). Diego Simeone suddenly became a much more offensive coach than we are used to. It is true that in the last rounds the team experienced a slight decrease: only one of the last 4 matches was won. On Saturday, the “mattress” lost to “Levante” (0: 2), although they were well above, – summed up the implementation. Despite a slight drop in form, Atlético remains the main favorite to win the Spanish championship.
Chelsea have the opposite situation: a failed start to the season and solid form in the last stretch. The brilliant streak began with the arrival of Thomas Tuchel to the training bridge. The German won 5 of the first 7 games at the new club and overall the Blues game suddenly turned upbeat. Tuchel also moved the team to a 3-defense scheme, brought back experienced Azpilicueta and Jorginho at the start, and also found an approach to Timo Werner, which ultimately interrupted the goal drought. Chelsea have a lot of ball possession again and look better on defense, but there are some problems creating chances.
Both teams faced the same problem, having lost the leaders of their defenses before the game. José Jiménez will not play for Atlético and Thiago Silva will not play for Chelsea. Without the Brazilian, the defense of the “blues” immediately becomes much more vulnerable, because they have lost not only the commander on the field, but also possibly their only superior CZ. But Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz returned, although both are not the main ones for Tuchel. In Madrid, the personnel losses are even more significant: in addition to Jiménez, Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco and Chime Vrsalco are also injured. Kieran Trippier will not play due to disqualification and Héctor Herrera caught a world virus.
Approximate compositions:
Athletic: Cloud – Savic, Felipe, Hermoso – Llorente, Koke, Kondogbia, Saul, Lodi – Felix, Suarez
Chelsea: Mandy – Aspilicueta, Christensen, Rüdiger – Hudson-Odoi, Kante, Kovacic, Alonso – Mount, Giroud, Werner
Prediction: Draw 1: 1. Both teams have had little success lately, and in the Champions League playoffs one shouldn’t expect a lot of goals from them, so the total bet below 2.5 seems very natural. At the same time, the absence of Jiménez and Thiago Silva makes the rival defense more vulnerable and gives hope of goal.
