Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City host Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League 2021-22 quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium in the early hours of Wednesday, April 6. The match will kick off at 12:30 AM IST.
The clash of different styles will take the centre stage only for the fourth time as despite being on the scene for more than a decade, both Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone have only squared off three times in the past.
City are set to be without two of their first-team defenders as Kyle Walker is still serving his suspension while centre-back Ruben Dias is out due to a hamstring injury.
Similarly for Atletico, a certain Yannick Carrasco joins Walker in serving the suspension. On the injury front, Hector Herrera will be their only absentee.
Manchester City vs Atletico Madrid odds for UEFA Champions League 2021-22
Manchester City: 1.36
Atletico Madrid: 9.00
Draw: 5.00
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Note: Odds are subject to change
Manchester City vs Atletico Madrid recent form
Manchester City are currently unbeaten in each of their last seven games across all competitions, (W5, D2). On top of that, before playing a 0-0 draw against Sporting in the round of 16 second leg, City had won nine home games in a row in the Champions League.
Atletico, on the other hand, are unbeaten since mid-February. Following their 0-1 defeat to Levante on February 16, the Rojiblancos have won seven of their last eight games while drawing one.
Manchester City: W, W, D, D, W
Atletico Madrid: W, W, W, W, W
Manchester City vs Atletico Madrid head-to-head
Wednesday’s meeting between Manchester City and Atletico Madrid is going to be the first-ever meeting between the two. Their managers, Guardiola and Simeone, however, have played three matches against each other in the past.
Their first meeting came in February 2012 when Guardiola was in charge of Barcelona. The Blaugrana defeated Atletico 2-1. Four years later, when the Catalan had moved to Bayern Munich, Simeone’s Atletico beat his team 1-0 in the first leg of the UCL 2015-16 semi-final.
Bayern won the second leg 2-1 but Atletico progressed on the back of the away goal rule.
Manchester City vs Atletico Madrid for UEFA Champions League 2021-22
Manchester City, despite drawing two of their last five games, are the odds on favourites to beat Atletico on Wednesday. This is because City have the home advantage and because they have scored at least two goals in four of their last five games across all competitions.
For Atletico, beating City would be a distant dream since their record against the English teams hasn’t really been great. Discounting their recent win over Man Utd, they have won a total of five out of 17 games against the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool.
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Featured photo: AFP / Patricia De Melo Moreira
