With four away-goals in the bag, not to mention a two-goal aggregate lead, Atlético ought to have this tie all sewn up before a ball has even been kicked at the Vicente Calderón. Having said this, the hosts are still expected to put the final nail in Leverkusen’s Champions League coffin on Wednesday night.
When they met in the first-leg, Atléti showcased a real superiority by executing their famous counter-attacking style to good effect. Although Leverkusen did enjoy a few good attacking spells themselves, the Spanish side were a cut above in all honesty.
On their own patch, where they’re often at their best, Diego Simeone’s side should be capable of putting the visitors in their place once and for all. There are two bets that catch the eye ahead of this fixture and these are: ‘Atlético to Win Half-Time/Full-Time’ and ‘Atlético to Score in Both Halves’ at odds of 11/8 and 13/8 respectively.
Not only did Atléti manage goals in both halves (as well as winning at half-time) in the first-leg, but Simeone’s men are more than accustomed to notching either side of the break on their own patch. Barring two defeats to Barcelona, Atléti have scored before and after half-time in each of their last four, as well as in five of their last seven, on home soil. Of those seven, they’ve been winning at half-time (before claiming the victory overall) in six. With the way this tie is set up, it’s very easy to see a similar outcome here.
It’s no secret that Leverkusen have been performing well below their best for most of this season and, particularly in recent weeks, they’ve started to really struggle from a defensive point of view. The fact that they need to score goals here to stand even the slightest chance of going through isn’t likely to help in this respect as it plays right into the hands of a team who’re arguably the most effective counter-attacking side in European football.
Roger Schmidt’s side looked all over the place defensively when conceding four in the first-leg and have done little to rectify such problems in their three Bundesliga matches since. They followed up that damaging first-leg defeat by losing 2-0 at home to Mainz before shipping six when visiting Dortmund a week later. They did fare better numerically on Friday night when drawing 1-1 with Werder Bremen, but the same defensive frailties were still there for all to see, and, against the attacking talent at Atlético’s disposal, the visitors are likely to flounder yet again.
All in all, the Spanish side have put themselves in an excellent position here and are fancied to hammer home their advantage with yet more goals and another victory here.
See all of our Champions League tips here.