With Manchester United no more than outsiders to qualify for next season's Champions League through their position in the Premier League, Ralf Rangnick and his squad are under pressure to deliver on the continent. The interim manager, who is expected to take on a role behind the scenes later in 2022, will be aware that his likely replacement's transfer budget will be significantly hit if United are not playing at European football's top table during 2022-23, but the Red Devils can claim to be the marginal favourites ahead of the second leg against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night having earned a 1-1 draw at Wanda Metropolitano, even if that may not ring true with the majority.
Just like punters assess the pros and cons when it comes to casino sites, Rangnick has numerous systems and personnel available to him, but the first inclination may be to keep things tight at the back over instructing his players to deliver a traditional United performance of attacking football. With that in mind, it feels that opting for a draw at half time with Atletico winning at full time is worth a punt at 15/2. Although the shackles have seemingly been taken off the Spanish outfit in recent weeks, the stakes are far higher for this contest and Diego Simeone could easily revert to type and start off defensively, too. Nevertheless, Atletico have shown greater consistency in the final third over their hosts, and if either team is going to edge this encounter in the closing stages, it could be the visitors.
As a backup to that selection, taking the 6/4 on Atletico to qualify for the last eight appears to make sense. Simeone's team are unbeaten in their last five matches in all competitions, winning four and scoring 11 times, whereas United cannot pull the trigger on playing with a swagger going forward without conceding chances and goals at the other end. Ahead of their meeting with Tottenham Hotspur, United had collected just two wins from eight outings, one of those triumphs coming at home to 10-man Brighton & Hove Albion, and for all of their individual quality, many will side with Atletico to show a ruthless streak when it matters.
That opinion stems from the renaissance of Joao Felix. For much of his time at Atletico, the powers-that-be must have wondered why they shelled out such a vast amount of money on the Portuguese forward, but frustrations allegedly boiling over between him and Simeone appear to have led to the ideal resolution. In his last seven appearances, the 22-year-old has chipped in with five goals and two assists, including a brilliantly-taken effort in the first leg. Depending where you look, you can get as big as 7/2 for Felix to score in normal time, a selection which feels like a no-brainer given that he now seems to relish the responsibility which comes with leading the Atletico attack.
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Felix is not the only Atletico player who deserves to be considered ahead of this contest. With 14 of his 37 appearances this season coming from the substitutes' bench, Angel Correa is not exactly what you would call reliable when it comes to game time, but that has not stopped the Argentine chipping in with 12 goals in La Liga and the Champions League this season. Four of those have come since January 22, a sign that he is in form, but his expected place among the replacements on Tuesday means that he should come into the thinking of punters with regards to the last goal of the contest. As it stands, betting odds of 10/1 are available, and with his reliability likely to lead to an outing early in the second half, there are certainly worse selections to be had.
Despite Atletico potentially being favoured by many, it should be noted that there is still value in backing United, particularly when it comes to margin of victory. Although Atletico are more appealing to prevail by one goal at 7/2, United are also worth a punt at narrowly lower odds of 5/2. It is difficult to see this match being anything other than nip and tuck, and while extra time is a real possibility, the close nature of the game means that placing low stakes on each outcome has every chance of delivering.
