AC Milan vs Atletico Madrid
After a years-long absence, one of the most storied clubs in European football – seven-time champions AC Milan – will once again play host to a Champions League match.
The Rossoneri have begun the Serie A season in spectacular form and will be keen to get their first win of their Champions League campaign as Atletico Madrid come to visit the San Siro.
Spanish champions Atleti have been far from convincing to start the season, with issues in attack once again haunting Diego Simeone’s side.
Nevertheless, the Champions League 2021 betting odds still point to a competitive battle between the two at the San Siro.
Talking Points
Old Madrid boys powering Milan’s rise
AC Milan are flying at the moment. They are up in second place in the Serie A table with five wins from their first six games, the most recent of which coming this weekend at Spezia.
After Spezia cancelled out Daniel Maldini’s opening goal, substitute Brahim Diaz popped up with the winner four minutes from time to give the Rossoneri the 2-1 win.
Diaz – who is on loan from Atleti’s rivals Real Madrid – has been in fantastic form to start the season and currently leads the team with four goals. He’s scored three goals in his last four appearances, a run which began in Milan’s 3-2 defeat to Liverpool in their Champions League opener.
Milan looked significantly overmatched at the start, but they showed resilience to overcome the early adversity and made some Champions League 2021 highlights of their own.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed that match as he continues to recover from an Achilles injury, while Tiemoue Bakayoko and Alessandro Florenzi are also still out.
However, centre-back Simon Kjaer is getting closer to fitness while right-back Davide Calabria returned as a substitute against Spezia, so both could play and boost Stefano Pioli’s defence.
Speaking of defenders, this match will have special significance for left-back Theo Hernandez. The Frenchman spent a decade at Atletico before moving to rivals Real and eventually Milan. Hernandez already has a goal and two assists to his name this season and will be keen to put on a good show against his old club.
Atleti’s attack remains a problem
Atletico Madrid are not at all looking convincing to start the season. Diego Simeone’s side have won four of their first seven matches in La Liga, but they needed two late comebacks to beat newly promoted Espanyol and middling Getafe. They also needed a very late equaliser to draw with Villarreal at home.
But Atleti’s luck finally ran out this past weekend as they lost their first match of the season away to struggling Alaves, who had lost their first five games. Atleti went behind after just four minutes and failed to create any good goalscoring opportunities despite controlling 71 per cent of possession.
The return of Antoine Griezmann has not proven to be successful thus far – he has yet to score in five appearances and has attempted just six shots – while 34-year-old Luis Suarez is looking like a shadow of the player that led them to the title last season.
Atleti’s attack was similarly anaemic in their goalless draw with FC Porto, which added to Atleti’s awful run in Europe. Since beating Liverpool in both legs of their round-of-16 tie in 2019-20, Atleti have won just two of their last 10 Champions League matches, with four draws and three defeats.
Atleti’s defence, which has been looking much less secure than usual, will be missing centre-back Stefan Savic due to suspension. Thomas Lemar is also out due to injury. But aside from those two, Simeone will have his full squad to choose from.
History
How fitting that Milan’s first Champions League home game in a long time will come against the club they faced in their last home game seven years ago: Atletico Madrid.
The two clubs met in the round of 16 in the 2013-14 season, which also happened to be the two clubs’ only two meetings in history.
Atleti will have fond memories of that tie. They won both legs – 1-0 in Milan thanks to a late Diego Costa goal, then thrashed the Rossoneri 4-1 in Madrid. Atleti went all the way to the final that year, where they lost to Real in extra-time.
Milan have quite a storied history in Europe, but they have a notably poor record against Spanish opposition. They have lost 25 of their 57 matches against Spanish clubs, with 18 wins and 14 draws.
Meanwhile, Atletico have struggled on their travels to Italy. They have won just four of 13 trips, with six defeats and three draws.
Betting Tip
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AC Milan vs Atletico Madrid | 1X2 Draw @ 3.15 |
| September 29, 03:00 (GMT+8) |
The SBOTOP odds for this match are very close. Atletico Madrid are priced as very slight 2.53 favourites away from home, while Milan are not far behind at 2.79. Meanwhile, a draw is at 3.15.
While Milan are clearly the form team of the two, it’s still hard to completely discount Atleti and their stellar defence.
Atleti’s misfiring attack makes it hard to back them to get the win at San Siro, but Simeone can still set up his side to defend, which could very well be enough to pick up a decent point away from home.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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 = €20 (Highly confident) |
= €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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