Spanish La Liga defending champions Atletico Madrid will welcome Manchester United to Madrid this Wednesday for the first leg of their UEFA Champions League knockout tie.
Venue: Wanda Metropolitano (Madrid)
Key Statistics
Atletico Madrid are unbeaten in 14 UCL home knockout games.
This is Atletico Madrid’s eighth UEFA Champions League (UCL) knockout appearance in the last nine seasons.
The hosts have kept one clean sheet from their last eight games.
Manchester United are unbeaten in their last nine matches (90 minutes only).
The Red Devils have kept two clean sheets in their last ten away games in all competitions.
They conceded eight goals in the UCL this season. Only four sides still in the competition conceded more.
Head to head
This is the first head-to-head meeting between both sides.
Latest performances in all competitions
Atletico: W-L-W-L-W
Man United: W-W-D-D-L
Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid will leave their troubles in the Spanish La Liga for at least one day when they welcome Manchester United to Wanda Metropolitano.
The Spanish giants have been struggling this season and come into this tie sitting outside of the top four in La Liga. They are also out of the Copa del Rey.
Their qualification for this stage of the UCL was a miracle and they should count themselves lucky to be here, after winning just two games in the group stages (D1, L3). With seven points from the previous round, Diego Simeone’s side come into this round as the side with the lowest point tally still in the competition.
The seven goals they scored is also the lowest for teams that qualified for this round (level with Benfica and Lille). Having crashed out of this stage of the tournament last year at the hands of Chelsea, the hosts will be desperate not to be knocked out by another English team.
Possible Atletico Madrid starting line-up
Jan Oblak; Sime Vrsaljko, Stefan Savic, Gimenez, Mario Hermoso; Rodrigo De Paul, Koke, Joao Felix; Yannick Carrasco, Luis Suarez, Angel Correa..
Injured: Matheus Cunha, Daniel Wass
Doubtful: Antoine Griezmann, Jose Gimenez, Benjamin Lecomte, Thomas Lemar
Suspended: None
Manchester United
After a hard-fought 4-2 victory over Leeds United at the cold and wild Elland Road, Manchester United will travel to sunny Madrid, looking to get a win that will extend their participation in the UCL.
The Red Devils came out on top in a fiercely contested game in Elland Road on Saturday with goals from Fred and Anthony Elanga proving the difference after they had blown away a two-goal lead.
The win kept their top-four hopes alive in the league and also extended their unbeaten run to four games in all competitions. Ralf Rangnick’s side qualified for this stage of the tournament as group leaders after winning three of their group games (D2, L1).
They will look to get a good result in this game ahead of the return leg at Old Trafford. However, they must be in their best shape to take anything from this game given that they have only won one of their last seven UCL knockout games in Spain and can only boast a mere 21% win rate in away games in UEFA competition against Spanish clubs.
Possible Manchester United starting line-up
David de Gea; Diogo Dalot, Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw; Paul Pogba, Scott McTominay; Jadon Sancho, Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Elanga; Cristiano Ronaldo.
Injured: Tom Heaton
Doubtful: Edinson Cavani
Suspended: Mason Greenwood
Prediction
Atletico Madrid 1-1 Manchester United
