Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich preview

April 26, 2016
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Atletico vs BarcaHaving eliminated one of the title contenders out of the competition, Atletico Madrid aim to repeat the feat against Bayern Munich.

The Bavarians have not exactly been on fire of late, but they remain the favourites to make it to the Champions League final.

This is proving to be yet another successful season for Atletico Madrid, considering the team are still in the race for two major trophies.

Los Colchoneros impressed to catch Barcelona at the top of La Liga, while also beating the Catalans in the Champions League quarter-finals, but that will not matter much unless they can list at least one of the two trophies.

Atletico have seriously raised their game of late, winning five successive matches and keeping four clean sheets in a row, so there may be some value in odds of 3.00 (2/1) offered on home win.

Los Colchoneros have won 13 of last 16 home games in the Champions League, with one of those achieved after penalty shoot-out, losing only to Benfica in this year’s group stage.

Diego Simeone is sweating over the fitness of Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco, but the latest reports suggest that Belgian winger should be fit to play.

Diego Godin is definitely out through injury, whereas youngster Lucas Hernandez may be preferred to more experienced Stefan Savic at the back.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Oblak – Juanfran, Gimenez, Hernandez, Filipe Luis – Saul, Gabi, Koke, Ferreira-Carrasco – F. Torres, Griezmann.

With Pep Guardiola leaving at the end of the season, this will feel like an end of an era at Allianz Arena, and a Champions League title would be a perfect farewell gift for the Catalan coach.

The Bavarians needed to work hard to go this far, having been on the verge of elimination against Juventus, and they now face another difficult encounter.

Making their fifth successive appearance in the Champions League semis, Bayern Munich have eight defeats in last twelve matches on Spanish soil (W2 D2), losing to both Real Madrid and Barcelona in recent years.

When it comes to current form, the Bavarians have nine wins in last ten matches, but the general impression is they are not exactly on top of their game.

Pep Guardiola has some selection worries seeing that both Arjen Robben and Holger Badstuber are unlikely to make the trip to Vicente Calderon.

Jerome Boateng has returned into action but he is unlikely to be risked, while Xabi Alonso and Thiago Alcantara are vying for a place alongside Arturo Vidal in the middle of the park.

Probable starting line -up (4-2-3-1): Neuer – Lahm, Martinez, Kimmich, Alaba – Vidal, Thiago – Ribery, Muller, Douglas Costa – Lewandowski.

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