GIFT ROBERTS
Chelsea will once again today trade tackles with Atletico Madrid, the Spanish La Liga leader, in this season’s Champions League round of 16 in Bucharest tonight.
The match will witness strenuous play between the two sides who have had several encounters on different occasions.
Head to head between both sides are:
Atletico Chelsea
WINS DRAWN WINS
1 3 2
7 GOALS 10
Atletico coach, Diego Simeone, will be looking forward to what new Chelsea Manager, Tuchel can deliver against his team tonight.
Chelsea FC will be in a position not to drop a point in today’s encounter against an enemy they hope not to meet.
It will be a difficult match because of the quality of players both teams parade and how strong they can play direct football.
Both teams are playing away because of the Covid-19 pandemic with the match kicking off at 9pm.
Predictions:
Atletico Madrid to win is 1.35%
Chelsea to win is 2.33%
Over 1.5 for Atletico is 36%
Over 1.5 for Chelsea is 63%
Over 2.5 for Atletico is 62%
Over 2.5 for Chelsea is 37%
Both team to score is 45%
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid welcome Chelsea in another UEFA Champions League knockout stage first leg tie, with the home side for today’s fixtures reaching this stage of the competition for the eighth time in the last seven seasons.
Coach of the Atletico Madrid side, Diego Simeone, has never lost a home match in the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League since he became the manager of the Madrid club. He has recorded nine (9) wins and four (4) draws in this stage, with Atletico conceding just one(1) goal in their last 12 UEFA champions league knockout stage tie against their city rivals, Real Madrid in May 2017.
The match ended 2-1 at their home, the Vicente Calderon/Wanda Metropolitan Stadium in Madrid.
Meanwhile, Chelsea is the last team who seems to have beaten Atletico Madrid away in a European competition, where the Atletico side lost 1-2 to their visitors in 2017, being the first-ever loss at their new home, Wanda Metropolitan Stadium, in a European match.
So, here comes the big question: can Chelsea record another win in Madrid? With Diego Simeone’s men scoring only seven goals in six games this season in the group stage, which is invariably the lowest tally among the 16 remaining sides in the competition, can Chelsea be able to stop Luis Suarez who has never failed to score or deliver an assist in a UEFA Champions League season, and will be looking forward to finding the back of the net, having been goalless in his four games of the competition with Atletico Madrid this 2020/2021 season?