UEFA Champions League Preview SF 1: Atletico Madrid Vs. Bayern Munich

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

Preview: Manchester City vs. Paris Saint-Germain

Manchester City could make club history on Tuesday night if they manage to beat Paris Saint-Germain at the Etihad Stadium and advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League.

The quarter-final second leg is nicely poised at 2-2, but City have two away goals, and with away goals being very crucial at this stage of the competition, it puts Manchester City in poll position to qualify to the next stage

MANCHESTER CITY

Manchester City are looking forward to lift the championships league trophy with just four games away, and the first of that four is play out a goalless draw or a goal apiece will see City advance.

The Citizens’ campaign to win the Premier League title is over as they sit fourth in the table, 15 points behind leaders Leicester City with six games left to play, so there is even more importance put on the Champions League.

The positive for City is that 82% of teams who drew 2-2 away in the first leg made it through to the next phase of the competition.

Recent form (all competitions): DDLWDW

Paris Saint-Germain

PSG head into this game on the back of a league win as they overcame Guingamp 2-0 after resting a handful of players, but they too have struggled for consistency having won three, lost one and drawn one in their last five games in all competitions.

PSG may have beaten Chelsea in the last-16 round, but in terms of individual games, they have only won one of their past seven away games against English opposition.

The good news for PSG fans, though, is that their team have scored two or more goals in all of their last five Champions League games and Zlatan Ibrahimovic has netted in his past five games in the competition.

Recent form (all competitions): WWLWDW

Head To Head

Prior to last week’s quarter-final first leg, the two sides met in the UEFA Cup group stage in the 2008-09 season, which ended in a goalless draw.

Hart, Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta were all involved in the game, which was the first time that City had gone up against a French team.

During that competition, City, who were managed by Mark Hughes at the time, ended up finishing first in Group A and went on to lose in the quarter-finals, while PSG finished third and were knocked out at the same stage.

 

Preview: Manchester City vs. Paris Saint-Germain

Preview : Real Madrid vs. Wolfsburg

Real Madrid play host to Wolfsburg at the Bernabeu on Tuesday night with a 2-0 deficit from last week’s first leg in Germany, which has made the encounter a very fascinating one to watch out for.

REAL MADRID

He may have only inherited the Madrid hotseat in January, but there is a growing feeling in Spain that Zinedine Zidane’s long-term future as head coach hinges on the outcome of this encounter.

With president Florentino Perez said to be fluttering his eyelashes in the direction of another comeback of Jose Mourinho, Zidane should be able to mastermind qualification into the semis unless he might be axed as manager next season.

Recent form (all competitions): WWWWLW

WOLFSBURG

Wolfsburg’s Bundesliga form has been so patchy this season that the only way they will be playing Champions League football in 2016-17 is if they go on to win the competition this time around.

A disappointing 1-1 draw with Mainz at the weekend has left Dieter Hecking’s men eighth in the table and some nine points adrift of fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen.

Even so, while the Wolves are Champions League novices – this is just their second campaign – they have shown some good away from in Europe. Of their last nine trips, just two have ended in defeat, with five victories thrown in.

Head To Head

Last week’s encounter was the first official meeting between the two sides.

In Spain, Wolfsburg have been beaten once and drawn on their other visit.

As for Madrid, they have won 21 of their 28 home encounters against German clubs, with three defeats.

Recent form (all competitions): WLDLWD

Miss next match if booked

Casemiro, Danilo and Sergio Ramos will miss the first leg of the Semifinals if they see a yellow card against Wolfsburg.

Arnold, Benaglio, Caligiuri, Vierinha and Luiz Gustavo are in danger of missing the first leg of the Semifinals as well.

Injuries

Sebastian Jung will miss the game and Daniel Caligiuri is questionable.

 

Preview : Real Madrid vs. Wolfsburg