Atletico Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund Match Preview

Atletico revengeful, Dortmund remorseless. Each in their own terms, sellers of rapture and thrill. Two contrasting sides offering dash and dare. Atletico’s pedigree crumbled in front of Dortmund’s vociferous supporters like statues of sand. Dortmund's margin of victory against such an experienced European outfit, famed for their defensive solidity, was a major show of intent and marks them out as real contenders to go a long way into the competition. Lucien Favre is the man who has re-ignited Dortmund’s dormant aspirations of European and domestic glory. The 4-0 win over an extremely shrewd and defensively unbreachable Atletico Madrid was just an indication of Dortmund’s attacking flair and fury. However, a trip to Madrid’s state of art stadium is going to be a tricky affair as Atletico Madrid will undoubtedly be out for a bit of redemption, and this time will have the full support of the Wanda Metropolitano at their backs. With a showdown against Bayern Munich looming, the priority will be to keep BVB’s key players healthy and rested. Dortmund have already booked a trip to the round of 16 hence rotation to keep their star performers fresh before Bayern clash is predictable. The catch here for Favre and his backroom staff will be to strike a balance between using their trusted match winners and rotating the squad. Jadon Sancho, the latest Football sensation is on a roll himself. He is scoring spectacular goals, providing near perfect assists and winning matches for Dortmund as if it were a cakewalk. Everything that this kid is touching is turning into gold. Dortmund’s very own Alchemist clubbed with fiercely loyal Marco Rues, the reborn striker Paco Alcacer and you have one of the most brutal attacking weapons in your Arsenal.

Atletico Madrid's underwhelming start to the season might have been overshadowed by the crisis enveloping city rivals Real but there will be no place to hide against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. The kingpin of Defensive approach- Diego Simeone was left flabbergasted at the way Atletico defended against the BVB a fortnight ago. Atletico recovered from the aforementioned catastrophe at Signal-Iduna-Park by beating Real Sociedad 2-0 at home in the following La Liga clash. Diego Simeone’s men managed to keep their net untouched last week as well when they saw off Sant Andreu 0-1 on the road in the first leg of the Copa del Rey last 32 round. However, maintaining such a fine defensive form will be quite a challenge for the hosts given they are up against the red-hot attacking line of Dortmund’s once again. After all, Atleti felt the strength of BVB’s attack two weeks ago. Atletico will further suffer a blow as they are without their knight of defence- Diego Godin. They will also miss the physicality and burliness of Diego Costa upfront. A problem for Atletico this season has been the lack of a reliable goalscorer. Antoine Griezmann is their top scorer with five goals in fifteen games, while only four other players have scored more than one goal for Diego Simeone's side. Costa has one goal all season and is yet to get off the mark in La Liga. After turning 30 last month, it is tempting to wonder if the Spaniard's best days are now behind him. Simeone remains loyal to Costa as he shares his best qualities -- grit, determination, an unrelenting will to win -- with his striker. They also define Atletico at their best. Despite the injury bugs, Atletico have enough firepower to go around with. The likes of Gelson Martins, Thomas Lemar could be seen doing a little shimmy shammy around Dortmund’s defence and evading defenders for pleasure.  

PREDICTION: We can’t see Dortmund being shut-out here, with 38 goals in 13 games in the Bundesliga and Champions League. The visitors have been defensively solid in Europe, with three wins to nil. However, the visitors have a single clean sheet in their last eight away trips. We see them conceding in this trip, so we see both teams to score as the value on this one. On top of that, we’re backing a more even four goal thriller, with a 2-2 draw as our correct score pick.