Tomorrow night sees just the sixth meeting between Liverpool FC and Atletico Madrid with the English club having won only one of the previous five meetings, a 2-1 home triumph in extra time during the 2009-10 Europa League semi-finals.
However, it was Atletico who won the tie and went through to the final, thanks their to their 1-0 first-leg advantage achieved during the Madrid portion of the tie. Here we are in the same situation again, only this time, LFC are a much stronger side, and therefor more capable of stopping history from repeating itself.
This Liverpool side has spent most of the season ranked in the top spot on most publications’ power rankings, and they’re motivated to defend their European title.
Liverpool FC vs Atletico Madrid UCL Round of 16 Leg 2/2 FYIs
The bookmakers are backing the hosts to the tune of -182 while the underdogs visitors are priced at +575; a draw is valued at +295. The over/under is set at 2.5 (-106/-118) for this Wednesday night, 8pm local, kickoff. Atletico is up 1-0 on aggregate. For the team news, for both sides, go to this link.
Google Result Probability Liverpool win 62% Draw 24% Atletico Madrid win 14%
Liverpool UCL form: WWWDWL
Liverpool form across all competitions: WLWLLW
Atletico Madrid UCL form: WWLLWW
Atletico Madrid form across all competitions: WDWWDD
Liverpool Starting XI Prediction:
Adrian; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino, Mane
Atletico Madrid Starting XI Prediction:
Oblak; Trippier, Savic, Felipe, Renan Lodi; Saul Niguez, Partey, Koke, Joao Felix; Correa, Morata
Prediction: Liverpool 2, Atletico Madrid 0
It’s only halftime of this tie, as Jurgen Klopp was keen to say at his news conference, so the Reds have a chance to turn this thing around, and I believe they will.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link