Real Madrid will welcome Atalanta to Spain this Tuesday for the second leg of their Champions League knock-out tie with the Italian side.
Stadium: Alfredo di Stéfano Stadium
Results in First-leg: Atalanta 0-1 Real Madrid
Key Statistics
- Real Madrid have not failed to reach the quarter-finals in 3+ successive UEFA Champions League (UCL) appearances since a spell between 2005 and 2010.
- Real Madrid are unbeaten eight competitive games heading into this tie.
- Karim Benzema is Madrid’s top-score this season with 25 goal involvements in 30 competitive matches.
- Atalanta have won three of their last four matches by a 2+ goal margin.
- Atalanta have lost twice in their last ten competitive matches.
Real Madrid
After scrapping past Elche in the league, Real Madrid will turn their focus to the Champions League, where they play Atalanta.
The Spanish giants hold a slender one-goal advantage over their rivals from the first leg. The hosts will count themselves lucky to have got a goal as Atalanta posed a real threat to them all game.
They will hope that the first leg is more straightforward than the previous encounter in Bergamo as they look to qualify for the quarter-final of the UCL for the first time in three seasons.
Possible Real Madrid line-ups
Thibaut Courtois, Lucas Vazquez, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Ferland Mendy, Luka Modric, Federico Valverde, Toni Kroos, Marco Asensio, Karim Benzema, Vinicius
Unavailable: Carvajal (hamstring), Casemiro (suspended), Díaz (hip), Hazard (hip)
Doubtful: Odriozola (unspecified)
Misses next match if booked: Mendy
Real Madrid confirm that Eden Hazard has suffered psoas muscle injury which reports say could rule him out for 4-6 weeks. Hazard made a 15-minute return to action at the weekend—his first football since January.
He is not in a good condition and I can’t tell you anything else. I can’t explain it to you. I hope it’s a small thing.
Zinedine Zidane on Eden Hazard
We need to start the game from scratch. We’ve not won anything yet, and we need to show a lot in order to get through this tie. We can’t think we’ve already got it sewn up just because of the first leg. We’re only thinking about this game. It’s a final. We need to play a great game if we want to go through against an opponent who have a lot of things going for them.
Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid Manager
Atalanta
Atalanta will look to bounce back from their unfortunate loss against Real Madrid in the first leg of this tie. Despite playing a good chunk of the game with ten men, the Italian side held up well against Madrid but could not hold on till the end.
Despite the one goal deficit, they will know that the tie is far from over and will be looking to make a statement when they travel to Spain.
Their last visit to Spain was also at this stage of the competition last year, and they came out the better of both sides. They will hope for a repeat performance against this Madrid side who have proven that any side can beat them these days.
Gasparini’s men have lost only once away from home in 14 games, recording eight clean sheets in that period. They scored 23 times in that period also, failing to score in just three of those games.
The visitors have not conceded more than a goal in all their away travels away since their 2-2 draw with Bologna in December. With such an impressive away goal record, they will be confident of getting a positive result against Real Madrid.
Possible Atalanta line-ups
Pierluigi Gollini, Rafael Toloi, Cristian Romero, Jose Luis Palomino, Joakim Maehl, Marten de Roon, Mario Pasalic, Robin Gosens, Ruslan Malinovskyi, Luis Muriel, Duvan Zapata.
Unavailable: Freuler (suspended), Hateboer (foot)
Doubtful: Djimsiti (muscular)
Misses next match if booked: Djimsiti, Romero
So far it has been a difficult Champions League campaign, but we’ve overcome a harder group than last year, earning 11 points…
It’s quite arrogant to think we can beat Real Madrid. We’ll wait until we’re on the pitch to work out how to contain them. We want to have a great game, and I hope that will be enough against one of the most successful clubs [in the competition]…
Gian Piero Gasperini, Atalanta Manager
Betting Odds
Real Madrid : Draw : Atalanta :: 2.05 : 3.75 : 3.30
Bet on Results
| Real Madrid Goal | Atalanta Goal | Betting Odds | What it means? |
| 1 | 1 | 7.50 | Real Madrid qualify |
| 2 | 1 | 9.00 | Real Madrid qualify |
| 1 | 0 | 10.00 | Real Madrid qualify |
| 1 | 2 | 12.00 | Atalanta qualify |
| 2 | 2 | 13.00 | Real Madrid qualify |
Prediction
Real Madrid 1-1 Atalanta
