Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich head into Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg at the Vicente Calderon in fine form.
Atletico Madrid
Atletico are currently level on 82 points with league leaders Barcelona, while their local rivals Real sit one point behind in third position.
Their rennaisance has been through Diego Simeone who has transformed Atletico into a dominant force in Europe over the last few years, particularly as he has managed to break into the elite of La Liga, which used to be shared solely between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
The club came close to lifting the crown in 2014 when they took on Real in Lisbon, but they ended up losing 4-1 in extra time.
It is no secret that Atletico pride themselves on their defensive qualities as they have conceded just four goals in Simeone’s 16 Champions League matches in charge, but they are facing a German club that have only failed to score in four of their games during the entire season.
Current Form (All competitions) – LWWWWW
Bayern Munich
Bayern managed to reach the semi-finals last season, but they were stopped in their tracks by Guardiola’s former club Barcelona, who earned a 5-3 victory on aggregate.
The German outfit were dominated by the Catalan giants in the first leg, which ended 3-0, and despite Bayern earning a 3-2 victory at the Allianz in the return fixture, it was not enough to get into the final.
This season, after a stunning comeback against Juventus to reach the quarter-finals of the competition, Bayern were tested more than people may have expected when they faced Benfica.
TEAM NEWS
Atletico have suffered a big blow as they will be without Diego Godin for the match as the defender has failed to overcome a hamstring injury that he suffered last week.
Jose Gimenez is likely to step in, while Tiago Mendes is out with a leg injury. Fernando Torres is likely to return to the starting lineup alongside Griezmann after the striker missed the quarter-final second leg due to suspension.
As for the visitors, Holger Badstuber and Arjen Robben are expected to miss the game because of an ankle and groin injury respectively.
Jerome Boateng is a doubt for the clash because he is still nursing a groin problem, while Sebastian Rode could miss out because of illness.
Current form (all competition) -WWDWWW
Head To Head
Atletico and Bayern have only played one another once before and that was in the 1974 European Cup final, which required a replay.
On May 15, the two sides went head to head at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels and Atletico took the lead. In the 120th minute, though, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck equalised for Bayern, forcing the final into a replay.
Two days later, it was a more comfortable affair for the German team as Uli Hoeness and Gerd Muller nabbed two goals each to give Bayern a 4-0 victory.
PREDICTION : Atletico Madrid 0 Bayern Munich 0
TIME : 6:45 GMT
UEFA Champions League Preview SF 1: Atletico Madrid Vs. Bayern Munich
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