Atl. Madrid vs Slovan Bratislava prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – League phase betting tips on match 2024-12-10 17:45.
[p]Previously conceived ideas about AtlĂ©tico Madrid being a defensively minded team in the image of legendary manager Diego Simeone get further from the truth by the week. Atleti’s current nine-game winning streak across all competitions has seen them score 27 times, with 18 of those goals coming across their last four victories, including a 6-0 thumping of Sparta Prague on matchday five of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) – their joint-biggest win in competition history.[/p]
[p]Atlético kept up the momentum by remarkably recovering from 3-1 down to beat Sevilla via a stoppage-time winner on Sunday night. Simeone’s in-form side now take aim at the top-eight of the UCL standings whilst looking to build on a mediocre return of just seven wins from their last 18 European home matches (D7, L4), and in Slovan Bratislava, they’ll face Slovakian opposition for the first time ever.[/p]
[p]Spanish opponents are nothing new for Slovan however, as they’ve already suffered defeat on these shores when going down 2-0 to Girona on matchday three. That’s one of five successive defeats on their UCL debut for the Sky Blues, who could become just the sixth team in competition history to lose all of their opening six UCL games if they’re beaten here.[/p]
[p]Ominously, two of the other five teams holding that dreadful record were also Slovakian, the latter of which was Ĺ˝ilina, who Slovan lost 2-1 against in domestic action at the weekend. While that’s ramped up the tension in the title race back home, it’s unlikely to have done much for confidence in VladimĂr Weiss’ ranks as they look to end a seven-match winless run against Spanish opponents (D2, L5) – a run that includes three successive losses.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Atleti’s joint-top scorer in this season’s UCL with three strikes, Julián Alvarez directly contributes to a goal every 74 minutes in this competition on average (G11, A4) – only Erling Haaland can better that among players to have featured in 1000+ minutes in the competition. Slovan’s Tigran Barseghyan scored and assisted as Slovan pushed AC Milan all the way on matchday five (L 3-2), and has netted three times in as many domestic appearances since.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Of the 46 goals Atlético have scored in all competitions this season, a whopping 22 of them came between the 76th minute and full-time.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Ryan Fisher[/i][/p]