Bayer Leverkusen vs Atletico Madrid: Preview and Prediction

When Atletico Madrid takes on Bayer Leverkusen on September 13 night, they will be looking to make it two wins in a row to kick off their 2022-23 UEFA Champions League campaign. 

Diego Simeone’s side defeated Porto 2-1 in their first Group B match, while Leverkusen was defeated 1-0 by Club Brugge in their first European league stage match of the season.

Leverkusen finished third in the Bundesliga last season, earning them a place in the Champions League group stage this season, and they would have fancied their chances of progressing from Group B despite the presence of both Atletico Madrid and Porto.

However, the Germans were defeated 1-0 by Club Brugge in their first match last week, with Loubadhe Sylla’s effort shortly before halftime proving to be the difference between the two sides. Leverkusen has also had a slow start to their 2022-23 Bundesliga campaign, with only four points from six games, leaving them in 17th place in the table.

Gerardo Seoane’s side drew 2-2 with Hertha Berlin on Saturday, and they have only won one game this season in all competitions, which came away to Mainz in the league at the end of August. In the group stage of the 2019-20 competition, Leverkusen faced Atletico Madrid, losing 1-0 in the Spanish capital before winning 2-1 in Germany.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid will enter this match on the back of a 4-1 win over Celta Vigo on Saturday, which moved them into fourth place in La Liga with 10 points. After losing 2-0 at home to Villarreal on August 21, Simeone’s team has won three of their last four matches in all competitions, including a Champions League victory over Porto.

The game at Wanda Metropolitano ended in a spectacular fashion, with Mario Hermoso putting Atletico ahead in the 91st minute, Mateus Uribe levelling for Porto five minutes later, and Antoine Griezmann winning it for the La Liga side in the 11th minute of added time at the end of 90 minutes.

Atletico, who face Real Madrid in the Madrid derby next weekend, reached the competition’s quarter-finals last season, losing 1-0 over two legs to Manchester City. Simeone’s team has not advanced past the European Cup quarterfinals since reaching the semi-finals in 2016-17, and they will be expected to win this section given their strength and European pedigree.

What have they done so far?

Bayer Leverkusen head into this match coming off the back of a 2-2 Bundesliga 1 draw against Hertha Berlin. In that game, Bayer Leverkusen had 59% possession and 11 attempts at goal with 5 of them on target. For Bayer Leverkusen, the goal scorers were Kerem Demirbay (49′) and Patrik Schick (79′). For their opponents, Hertha BSC got 17 attempts on goal with 6 of them on target. Suat Serdar (56′) and Marco Richter (74′) scored for Hertha Berlin.

Three or more goals per game have been seen in 5 of the past 6 fixtures where Bayer Leverkusen have been involved. Opposition teams scored 11 of them in these games while Bayer Leverkusen totted up 8. Previous results aside, we’ll just have to find out if the trend shall persist in this upcoming match.

Atlético Madrid head into the meeting following on from a 4-1 La Liga win with the downing of Celta Vigo in their most recent match. In that match, Atlético Madrid had 46% possession and 10 shots on goal with 4 of them on target. 

For Atlético Madrid, the scorers were Ángel Correa (9′), Rodrigo De Paul (50′) and Yannick Carrasco (66′). At the other end, Celta Vigo had 14 shots at goal with 3 on target. Gabri Veiga (71′) and Unai Núñez (82′ Own goal) scored for Celta Vigo.

Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid have seen their goal attempts be successful 11 times in the course of their latest six matches. The overall goals that they have conceded during those same matches comes to 5.

Team News

Leverkusen will be missing Karim Bellarabi, Andrey Lunev, Amine Adli and Florian Wirtz for the clash with Simeone’s side. Exequiel Palacios is also a doubt due to his early withdrawal against Hertha Berlin at the weekend, which could lead to Charles Aranguiz coming in for a start.

Patrick Schick is set to lead the line for the German outfit, while there is also expected to be a position in a wide area for on-loan Chelsea attacker Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Atletico will again definitely be missing Stefan Savic and Sergio Reguilon for Tuesday’s European contest, while Jose Gimenez and Jan Oblak remain major doubts for the contest. Neither Gimenez nor Oblak was able to train with the team on Sunday, which could see Hermoso start at the back, and Ivo Grbic continues between the sticks.

Koke, Joao Felix and Marcos Llorente are set to come back into the starting XI, while Rodrigo De Paul is set to retain his spot in the middle of midfield for the European contest.

Head to Head Record

A look at their past head-to-head meetings going back to February 2015  shows us that Bayer Leverkusen has won 2 of them & Atlético Madrid 3, with a solitary fixture ending in a draw. In all, 12 goals were scored between them during those clashes, with 5 of them for Leverkusen and 7 coming from Atleti.

The previous league match featuring these clubs was Champions League match day 4 on November 2019 which finished with the scoreline of Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 Atlético Madrid. That day, Bayer Leverkusen had 52% possession and 16 shots on goal with 3 on target. The scorer was Kevin Volland (55′). Atlético Madrid had 13 shots at goal with 8 on target. Thomas Partey (41′ Own goal) and Álvaro Morata (94′) scored.

Predicted Starting XIs

Bayer Leverkusen (4-2-3-1): Lukáš Hrádecký; Odilon Kossounou, Jonathan Tah, Piero Hincapié, Mitchel Bakker; Charles Aránguiz, Robert Andrich; Jeremie Frimpong, Moussa Diaby, Callum Hudson-Odoi; Patrik Schick

Atletico Madrid (3-5-2): Ivo Grbić; Mario Hermoso, Axel Witsel, Reinildo Mandava; Nahuel Molina, Marcos Llorente, Koke, Rodrigo De Paul, Yannick Carrasco; João Félix, Álvaro Morata

Prediction

Leverkusen is more than capable of making this a difficult match for Atletico, and it would certainly not be a surprise to see a home victory or a draw. Atletico is in good form at the moment, though, and we are backing Simeone’s side to secure all three points.