Atletico Madrid are carrying a 2-0 advantage to Turin Stadium where they’ll play the second leg of the Champions League doubleheader with Juventus. El Cholo’s boys showed in the first game they got ‘cojones’ but are they big enough to take them to the quarterfinal? Read our Juventus vs Atletico Madrid prediction and betting tips to find out!
Juventus
Before losing 2:0 at Wanda Metropolitano two weeks ago, Juventus were considered one of the biggest favorites for winning the trophy. And that’s not a surprise, considering that they reached the final of the Champions League two times in the last four seasons. Plus, this time, they got one of the best players in history playing for them.
Of course, I’m talking about Cristiano Ronaldo, who’s been, by far, their best player this season. In the Italian Serie A, CR7 has scored 19 goals so far, as well as made 8 assists. He hasn’t been that impressive in the Champions League this season, but there’s still time to improve his stats.
And you can be sure he’ll do his utmost on Tuesday evening. He got some rest this weekend by sitting out the Serie A game against Udinese, which was the first time this season that he didn’t feature in Juventus’ starting XI in the league. And that means that he’ll be 100% fit and ready to give his utmost against Atleti, a team that he’s scored against 22 times in his career (in 31 matches).
Of course, even if Ronaldo wasn’t playing for them, Juventus would still be favorites against Atletico at Turin Stadium. This is the place where they are without a defeat in Serie A this season, winning 12 matches and playing a draw on only 2 occasions. They’ve also been impressive in the Champions League, although they did lose to Mourinho’s Man United at home back in November. And Mourinho’s Man United used to play defensively, similar to Cholo’s Atletico Madrid.
Atletico Madrid
Diego Simeone’s Atletico is famous for having amazing defenders, but this doesn’t mean they’re weak in other areas. On the contrary, this season, they seem strong in literally every position. And they also have a pretty decent bench this season, which wasn’t the case in the past. This means that the fact that they’re going to miss a couple of defenders due to injury problems should not worry them too much. They got the players to replace them.
Another thing that’s giving them confidence ahead of their trip to Italy is that Atleti have been in a winning form lately. They’ve won 5 matches in a row, counting all competitions. And in those 5 matches, they allowed zero goals!
Although their defense has been really impressive, they haven’t been too impressive up front. They rarely score over 2 goals per game. In fact, the last time they did it was back in January when they played against Huesca in La Liga.
In the game against Juventus, the scorers were two defenders, showing that Atleti’s final third hasn’t been in a goal-scoring mood lately. Still, some of them are showing big signs of improvement. Alvaro Morata, who joined the club from Chelsea this winter, scored 3 goals in 2 previous matches he played.
Team News
Juventus absentees:
- Juan Cuadrado (injury)
- Sami Khedira (injury)
- Douglas Costa (injury)
Atletico Madrid absentees:
- Diego Costa (injury)
- Lucas Hernandez (injury)
Possible Lineups
Juventus
Szczesny – Bonucci, Chiellini, Cancelo, Alex Sandro – Matuidi, Can, Pjanic – Dybala, Mandzukic, Ronaldo
Atletico
Oblak – Gimenez, Godin, Arias, Filipe Luis – Thomas, Koke, Correa, Saul – Griezmann, Morata
Juventus vs Atletico Madrid Prediction
Juventus need to go for a win here, a big one. Atleti, on the other hand, need to defend with all they got. I think Juventus will win this match, but will it be enough to knock-out the Atleti, I’m not so sure. Anything can happen in games like these; we might even see the extra time!
Juventus vs Atletico Madrid Betting Tips
- Juventus @1.72 (bet365)
- Cristiano Ronaldo to Score @2.12 (Unibet)
- Correct Score 2:0 @8.00 (bwin)