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Kick Off: 1945, 15/03/2017
Stadium: Vicente Calderon
TV: BT Sport
The manner of the 4-2 victory may have been surprising but Atletico Madrid were well backed to beat Bayer Leverkusen in Germany and the big hitters are again expected to lump on Diego Simeone’s side at 53/100 to confirm their Champions League superiority in the second leg.
Having reached two of the last three finals, Atletico were predicted to see off inexperienced opponents in more clinical fashion but the Spanish outfit still look in good shape to progress after coming out on top in the BayArena goal-fest.
Only Real Madrid have managed to get the better of Atletico Madrid in the knockout stages of the Champions League for the past three campaigns and the quality of their finishing in the first meeting with Bayer Leverkusen suggests they will again be tough to beat this term.
The pace of Antoine Griezmann and Kevin Gameiro was just too much for Bayer to cope with and 29/20 they again prevail by more than one goal in the return fixture is hard to resist.
Simeone will also be keen to see a tighter display from his defenders, as he stated: “It’s important not to concede that many goals at this stage of the tournament so that’s something we need to work on.” We’re taking the hint and snapping up 3/2 for Atletico to win to nil at the Vicente Calderon.
Bayer Leverkusen haven’t made it past the last-16 stage of the Champions League since they reached the final in 2002 and they look set for a fifth straight exit at this point, despite showing plenty of spirit in front of their own fans.
Roger Schmidt’s side still look like a work in progress but he did enthuse: “To fight our way back into the game with such a young team is extraordinary. You could see just how much life and bravery there is in this side.”
A 1-0 win against Tottenham at Wembley and 1-1 away draws against Monaco and CSKA Moscow in the group stage will give the visitors some hope of being competitive again in Spain but Atletico are a class apart in our book and usually much more clinical on home turf, so we like 13/2 for a 2-0 triumph.
Additional stats
First-leg result:
BAYER LEVERKUSEN 2-4 ATLETICO MADRID – Karim Bellarabi, Stefan Savic (og); Saul Niguez, Antoine Griezmann, Kevin Gameiro (pen), Fernando Torres
Previous head-to-head scores: Atletico Madrid 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen, Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Atletico Madrid, Atletico Madrid 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen
