Manchester United and Atletico Madrid are facing off at Old Trafford in the second leg of the Round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League. United has had a good game in the EPL this past weekend, but even then, their defense was garbage. Atletico is finally rising in their form, they are winning games, but I’m not convinced their troubles are over.
United has beaten Tottenham 3-2 in the EPL this past weekend, Ronaldo has scored a hat-trick, but they have won this game mostly because of Tottenham’s bad positioning and defense. In the EPL standings, United is now in 5th place with 50 points, and they are only 1 point away from the top 4, but the Champions League comes first. Ronaldo is also United’s leading goalscorer in the Champions League with 6 goals, and after his hat-trick, he might have a good game here as well. United has been anything but consistent this season, their defense is oscillating like crazy, and their offense is definitely not producing a lot. When Ronaldo is in form, United is in form, but he has been out of it for a while before that game against Tottenham.
Atletico Madrid hasn’t lost any of their last 5 games, while they have won their last 3 games in a row. During this 3-game winning streak, Atletico has scored 7 goals while conceding only 2, and it seems their defense has been improving as well. Joao Felix has been playing a lot better since the start of the season, and he was their main source of goals lately. In the Champions League, Griezmann is the leading goalscorer for Atletico with 4 goals, while Lodi has added 2 assists. There are quite a few injuries in Atletico, and that could be a problem for them because this game has the potential to go into overtime, and for that, you need the depth. Now when they are in good form, I’m sure the mood in Atletico is good as well, but they will eventually need to attack if they want the were here. Atletico is a solid team that has had their fair share of problems this season, but Simeone will do everything to stay on this winning streak.
These two teams have played only once in the past, and that was in the first leg of this matchup which ended in a 1-1 draw. I think Atletico is in slightly better form, but United is the home team, and they have Ronaldo who seems to be back to his old goalscoring ways. I will take Ronaldo to score at any time here.