Atletico Madrid vs Liverpool : Champions League Preview

The UEFA champions league is back again after another dull yet exciting international break where we witnessed the final of the UEFA nations league and some world cup qualifiers. But back to the biggest competition in football. We're still in the group stages. And the champions league always offers us high voltage matches to bite our nails. It's no different tonight too. Over in group B tonight at the Wanda Metropolitano Atletico Madrid face off the 2019 champions league winners Liverpool.

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Over from the bank of the river Mersey, the reds travel to the historic city of Madrid to have a flashback of the so called horrors from 2020. When in the round of 16 Atletico came to Anfield and beat Liverpool in their own backyard. This sent shockwaves across Europe. And it gave a lot of beating into Liverpool's morale as they were pretty much invincible at Anfield. Atletico Madrid also had kind of thei own record which is they've never lost to an English club at their home. Though that record was broken when Chelsea beat them 2-1 in their first ever game in their new stadium. So it's a very uphill battle for the reds as Atletico Madrid are quite the team to beat. So enough history lessons and we should focus on tonight's game.

The two teams can line up in this manner.
Liverpool : Alisson Becker, Andrew Robertson, Trent Alexander Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Curtis Jones, Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah.

Atletico Madrid : Jan Oblak, Jose Gimenez, Savic, Hermoso, Yannick Carrasco, Fernando Llorente, Koke, Rodrigo De Paul, Thomas Lemar, Joao Felix, Luis Suarez.

Liverpool are most likely to line up in a 4-3-3 formation. Whereas Atletico will look for a 3-1-4-2 formation. Atletico's game looks a tide aggressive. A little unconventional from how they used to play, but Simeone has opted for a more attacking approach recently. They will look to exploit Liverpool through their flanks. As Liverpool fullbacks will push up, Atletico wide midfielders will keep them occupied and the wide attackers will look to exploit that gap, making it a 3-3-4. Also to make up for the lack of a conventional defensive midfielder, Koke and De Paul can be seen guarding the defense from the mid. Defensively this team can turn into a 5-3-2. Which is helpful to stop Liverpool's wing play. And if it is a matter of central progression then the wide midfielders can tuck in narrow and make it an overload to outnumber the Liverpool's midfield.

Liverpool on the other hand will look to press their opponents as usual. Atletico may play an attacking approach for a start but eventually they press the panic button when the opponent team are actually gaining traction on the game. And yes Liverpool's main strength is to play through the wings and that's because they got two tremendously good wingers and fullbacks. Liverpool will initially play a high line to suffocate Atletico. And only Joao Felix has the quality to slip past that high line and actually have a chance at goal. Lemar also has that instinct. Suarez of course possesses that ability but his age is getting to him. He doesn't has the speed like he had before. Liverpool's midfield is more about keeping the tempo up and guarding the defense than helping the attack. But the two midfielders they might field are also good when going forward. This gives them the extra edge in the middle. Plus Firmino can drop deep to help the midfield in cases of creating for the wingers or helping to beat Atletico in the numbers game. Atletico's shape in defense gives them some extra protection but they'll need their wide players to keep the Liverpool fullbacks occupied. Or else Liverpool have a very good chance at them. Yes Atletico was in a good form and had beaten Barcelona in their last game by 2 goals to nil, but that was before the international break. The break usually breaks the rhythm of the team. And Liverpool have already beaten Watford by 5-0 last weekend. So they're in a good form going into the match.

But the champions league is all about upsets. Most of the greatest poetries of football are written in the nights of the champions league. The anthem itself gives your spine a chill and charges you up in a new energy. These Tuesday and Wednesday nights are magestic. Very very much artful.