It’s finally here, the anticipated final between two great teams for the UEFA Champions League cup. Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid will take the pitch on Saturday at San Siro, in Milan, Italy, and battle it out for the honor of raising “La Orejona.” Atletico hopes to turn the tide to their favor this year and defeat the 10-time Champions League victors, Real Madrid. Let’s take a read of the game preview.
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Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid
- Time: Saturday, May 28, 2016 2:45 PM ET
Real Madrid Betting
Perhaps to nobody’s surprise, Real Madrid heads into this match as the favorites to win. However, this year, Atletico Madrid is a much better team than what it was when they faced off back in 2014 when Real ended as victors. This undoubtedly gives Real plenty to think about, especially considering the opponents Atletico defeated to get to the final.
Real Madrid also had one heck of a scare this week, after Cristiano Ronaldo suffered a knock to his thing on Tuesday which opened questions on whether he would be healthy to play on Saturday. However, all seems well with the Portuguese attacker and he was back in practice on Wednesday much to the relief of fans and trainers alike. Manager Zinedine Zidane declared he feels Ronaldo will be fit to play come game time.
This is great news for Los Blancos, given Atletico’s tough as nails defensive stratagem which is practically impossible to put one over on. A testament to how good this defense is, was confirmed in both series against Barcelona and Bayern alike that couldn’t break through Atletico’s iron curtain without great efforts.
Real’s own trident of attackers consisting of Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, will now test their abilities to open up the scoreboard. They certainly have the talent to do so.
Backed by the midfield talent of Toni Kroos, who along with Luca Modric and Casemiro, can control midfield and create plenty of opportunities for Cristiano to score.
Atletico Betting
As mentioned above, Atletico once again finds itself the underdog heading into this match. However, in defeating Barcelona and then Bayern in the previous series, Diego Simeone’s crew has proved they’re the team to beat and will allow no one to say otherwise.
Atletico’s defense is second to none. Even for the best attackers in the world, Atletico’s goal has been practically impossible to score. In fact, Atletico has kept a clean sheet for 8 games out of their 12 Champions League matches this season. Diego Godin, goalkeeper Jan Oblak and Juanfran along with Gabi form the backbone of the defense.
And, if Atletico’s defense is legendary, it’s offensive power is nothing to be sneered at with French attacker Antoine Griezzman as lead striker. Griezzman is an abled striker with both legs and is also well capable of scoring through the air despite his short stature.
All in all, Griezzman is arguably the most balanced striker of both teams. He’s certainly capable of getting behind Real’s defenses on the turn of a dime, which he’ll be looking to do on Saturday to score first and take the early lead.
Game Predictions: It’s no secret that both Ronaldo and Griezzman will be the key players in this match. We believe both players will score, however Atletico will raise the cup in the end.