Will ‘little’ Atletico Madrid follow their older brothers into the UEFA Champions League (UCL) quarterfinals? Or will they once again be an ATM for their opponents to reach the last 16?
At 5:00 a.m. ET on Thursday (June 14), the second leg of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 will take place at the Civitas Metropolitano in Spain. The first leg was played at Inter’s home stadium, the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, with the Nerazzurri winning 1-0.
Inter have already clinched the league title. They have a 16-point lead over second-place AC Milan and need to win just five games to clinch the title with 10 league games remaining. A win would give them the most points in their history (105), surpassing Antonio Conte’s Juventus (102 in 2012-13).
The same goes for the UCL. They’ll be hoping to avenge last season’s humiliation at the hands of City, led by the inconsistent Lautaro. Lautaro has 26 goals and five assists in 35 games this season, and in the league, he has 23 goals and four assists in 25 games, more than a point per game. In the UCL, however, he’s been relatively meek with two assists in seven games.
As if waiting for City, they are unbeaten at home this season, unbeaten in 13 consecutive official games, and unbeaten in the league. In particular, they’ve been very conservative with their fitness, benching Lautaro against Bologna on September 9th ahead of the UCL. The defense has been stellar, conceding just one goal in their last five games.
‘Little’ Atletico Madrid, on the other hand, are in danger of losing their older brothers. Morata and Griezmann’s goalscoring drought has resulted in just three wins in their last 10 games. In their last five games, they have scored just four goals and kept three clean sheets. Another clean sheet in this game could shake up Simeone’s position, which has been quiet for a while.
However, home is a factor. Atletico Madrid have only lost once at home this season, so Inter cannot be taken lightly. That one defeat came in the 바카라사이트 Copa del Rey quarterfinals against Athletic Bilbao (0-1).
La Liga’s ‘two big brothers’ are already through to the UCL quarterfinals. Barcelona are in the quarterfinals for the first time since the Messi era, when they were upset by Bayern Munich in the ‘Miracle of ’82’, while Real Madrid controversially beat Leipzig to reach the last eight.
AT Madrid are back in the quarterfinals for the second time in two years, but can they overturn their first-leg defeat and pull off an upset at home?
The 2023-24 Champions League Round of 16 second leg match between Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan can be seen on SPOTV Prime. The UCL round of 16 second leg between Dortmund and PSV at the same time will be shown live on SPOTV Prime2, with both matches available on SPOTV NOW.