Atletico Madrid will be bidding to make it successive victories at the start of their 2022-23 Champions League campaign when they take on Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday night.
Diego Simeone's side were 2-1 winners over Porto in their opening Group B fixture, while Leverkusen suffered a 1-0 defeat to Club Brugge in their first match in the section.
Match preview
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Leverkusen finished third in the Bundesliga last season, which earned them a spot in the group stage of this season's Champions League, and they would have fancied their chances of progressing from Group B despite the presence of both Atletico and Porto.
The German side were beaten 1-0 by Club Brugge in their first match last week, though, with Loubadhe Sylla's effort shortly before the interval proving to be enough to the difference between the two sides.
Leverkusen have also made a poor start to their 2022-23 Bundesliga campaign, picking up only four points from six matches, which has left them down in 17th position in the table.
Gerardo Seoane's side played out a 2-2 draw with Hertha Berlin on Saturday, and they have only won one match in all competitions this season, which came away to Mainz in the league at the end of August.
Leverkusen faced Atletico in the group stage of the 2019-20 competition, suffering a 1-0 defeat in the Spanish capital before recording a 2-1 victory in the return match in Germany.
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Atletico, meanwhile, will enter this match off the back of a 4-1 win over Celta Vigo on Saturday, which moved them into fourth position in the La Liga table on 10 points.
Simeone's side have responded impressively to their 2-0 home loss to Villarreal on August 21, winning three of their last four matches in all competitions, including a Champions League success over Porto.
The contest at Wanda Metropolitano had a spectacular finish; Mario Hermoso sent Atletico ahead in the 91st minute before Mateus Uribe levelled for Porto five minutes later, only for Antoine Griezmann to win it for the La Liga side in the 11th minute of added time at the end of the 90.
Atletico, who have the small matter of a Madrid derby against Real Madrid next weekend, reached the quarter-finals of last season's competition, going down 1-0 to Manchester City over the two legs.
Simeone's team have not been past the final eight in the European Cup since reaching the semi-finals in 2016-17, and they will be expecting to top this section considering their strength and European pedigree.
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Team News
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Leverkusen will be missing Karim Bellarabi, Andrey Lunev, Amine Adli and Florian Wirtz for the clash with Simeone's side.
Exequiel Palacios is also a doubt due to his early withdrawal against Hertha Berlin at the weekend, which could lead to Charles Aranguiz coming in for a start.
Patrick Schick is set to lead the line for the German outfit, while there is also expected to be a position in a wide area for on-loan Chelsea attacker Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Atletico will again definitely be missing Stefan Savic and Sergio Reguilon for Tuesday's European contest, while Jose Gimenez and Jan Oblak remain major doubts for the contest.
Neither Gimenez nor Oblak were able to train with the team on Sunday, which could see Hermoso start at the back, and Ivo Grbic continue between the sticks.
Koke, Joao Felix and Marcos Llorente are set to come back into the starting XI, while Rodrigo De Paul is set to retain his spot in the middle of midfield for the European contest.
Bayer Leverkusen possible starting lineup:
Hradecky; Kossounou, Tah, Hincapie, Bakker; Aranguiz, Andrich; Frimpong, Diaby, Hudson-Odoi; Schick
Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:
Grbic; Hermoso, Witsel, Reinildo; Molina, Llorente, Koke, De Paul, Carrasco; Felix, Morata
We say: Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 Atletico Madrid
Leverkusen are more than capable of making this a difficult match for Atletico, and it would certainly not be a surprise to see a home victory or a draw. Atletico are in good form at the moment, though, and we are backing Simeone's side to secure all three points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Matt Law
