Lazio-Atletico Madrid is a match valid for the first day of the group stage of the Champions League and is played on Tuesday at 21:00: tv, formations, predictions.
Lazio has landed in a group that we could easily call affordable, especially if we consider that the biancocelesti at the time of the draw were in the third bracket.
Feyenoord and Celtic are two teams within the capitolini’s reach, despite the fact that it was the Dutch, a year ago, who ousted them from the Europa League in a nail-biting day of the group stage. The most fearsome opponent, and probably superior – albeit by a little – to Maurizio Sarri’s men, is Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid, one whom on the Biancoceleste side of the Tiber they always remember with particular fondness, having been among the protagonists of the golden era at the dawn of the new millennium. The Colchoneros, however, are no longer those of five-six years ago, when they almost always arrived at the bottom of the competition and were a real nightmare for the big boys. To some extent they still are but rebuilding a cycle is not proving easy for the Argentine coach, who has been on the red and white bench for more than 10 years. Atletico is coming off a disappointing year. One of the lowest points was the elimination from the Champions League already at the group stage, a flop that Cholo does not want to repeat.
Lazio finds Simeone again
Continue to be frequent, meanwhile, the slips of Oblak and co. Last Saturday came their first defeat of the season, an ugly 3-0 loss at home to Valencia
Simeon
On the night at the Mestalla, nothing worked and the absence of Koke and De Paul was noticeable. And to think that only three weeks earlier Atletico Madrid had been the talk of the town in the derby with Rayo Vallecano, overwhelmed 7-0 at home. By seven points was the haul for the Colchoneros, who will have to do without several players in Rome: in addition to the two mentioned above, Depay, Soyuncu, Lemar and Reinildo will also be missing. Even Lazio is not approaching this challenge, which marks the return of the biancocelesti to the Champions League after two years, in the right mood. On Saturday it suffered a narrow defeat (3-1) at the Stadium against Juventus, a step backward from its performance in Naples two weeks earlier. The win against the Italian champions remains Lazio’s only one, having been beaten by surprise in the first two days by Lecce and newly promoted Genoa. All available for Sarri, who could launch Guendouzi from the 1′ in place of Kamada.
The Prediction
First Champions League clash between the two teams, who have not faced each other since the 2011-12 season: in the Europa League, the Spaniards got the better of both the first leg and the return. The other precedent is much older and dates back to 1998: in the semifinal of the then Uefa Cup, the biancocelesti won. Both come to this challenge with two heavy defeats on their backs but, unlike Lazio, the Colchoneros also have to deal with numerous absences. Sarri’s team, in our opinion, will manage to avoid defeat in a match with at least one goal on each side: Lazio, in fact, has never kept its goal unbeaten in the four matches played in the league.
Lazio-Atletico Madrid’s likely lineups
- LAZIO (4-3-3): Provedel; Marusic, Casale, Romagnoli, Pellegrini; Guendouzi, Cataldi, Luis Alberto; Felipe Anderson, Immobile, Zaccagni.
- ATLETICO MADRID (3-5-2): Oblak; Hermoso, Witsel, Savic; Molina, Llorente, Barrios, Saul, Riquelme; Griezmann, Morata.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
