Salzburg hosts Atletico Madrid at the Red Bull Arena in a decisive match from Group A of the Champions League. One of these two teams will reach the 1/8-finals of the competition, but which one? Let’s discuss it in these football predictions for today.
The situation looks dramatic right now because just two points separate these two teams. Atletico Madrid are currently second with 6 points won while Salzburg are third with 4 points. This means that the Austrian team will reach the knockout phase if they beat Atletico on Wednesday. That’s a pretty big motivation, don’t you think?
Salzburg kept their chances in the prevous round when they achieved their first and only win in the group so far. Jesse Marsch’s boys had a difficult trip to Russia to face Lokomotiv Moscow, but they gave their best performance so far and secured a key 3-1 win. The German striker Mergim Berisha played a great match and scored twice while Karim Adeyemi added one more goal for the win, too.
Salzburg are underdogs against Atletico Madrid, but this is exactly what they want – to be in such position and surprise their opponents. The Red Bulls played in the Champions League last season as well, so they have the experience they need. They only need some belief in their own capabilities.
Atletico Madrid are not having their most convincing Champions League campaign so far, but they look pretty solid in La Liga so far. During the weekend Los Colchoneros achieved their 7th consecutive win in La Liga which allowed them to top the table with 26 points. At least right now Atletico look like a solid contender for the La Liga title.
On Saturday Diego Simeone’s team did its job against Real Valladolid at the Wanda Metropolitano. Atleti scored both of their goals after the halftime break when Thomas Lemar and Marcos Llorente put the ball in the net. Both assists were provided by the English international Kieran Trippier.
The big news for Atletico Madrid is the return of Luis Suarez. The influental Uruguayan striker returned on the pitch after testing positive for COVID-19. He started the game and played 63 minutes, but he didn’t score.
Obviously Diego Simeone had the game against Salzburg in mind against Real Valladolid. Some key players like Koke, Joao Felix and Llorente started from the bench against Valladolid. Most likely Simeone will use them in the starting eleven against the Red Bulls on Wednesday.
That’s our football predictions for today for the Champions League fixture between Salzburg and Atletico Madrid at the Red Bull Arena. This is a key game because both teams are currently having chances to reach the 1/8-finals. The Austrian side needs to win at any cost while Atletico would be satisfied even with a draw. It’d be curious to see how Salzburg will approach this game – are they going to attack from the first minute or they will be more careful against the Spanish giants? We shall wait and see.
