Champions League: Atletico Can See Off the Battling Belgians

Atletico Madrid vs Club Brugge

After the two clubs played out an entertaining 3-3 draw last week, Champions League: Atletico Madrid vs Club Brugge is back on in Spain on Tuesday; and Diego Simeone’s team is in pole position to reach the quarter-finals.

The Belgians fought back from a two goal deficit to draw the first leg 3-3, and that tees this second leg up nicely, but the hosts are hot favourites to finish the job on home turf.

Ivan Leko’s Brugge refused to lie down last week and the Spaniards will have to be more ruthless this time around.

Over at the Jan Breydel Stadium Simeone’s men silenced the home crowd as goals from Julian Alvarez and Ademola Lookman gave them a 2-0 lead but efforts from Raphael Onyedika and Nicolo Tresoldi hauled Brugge back into the game. An own goal from Joel Ordonez looked to have given the La Liga giants a win but Christos Tzolis lifted the roof off the stadium with an 89^th minute leveller.

After a poor finish to the group league stage, with just a single point from their last two games Los Rojiblancos ended up 14^th while Brugge finished with two wins to land 19^th and three points behind Atleti; but Simeone’s men picked up an impressive league win on Saturday and the Atletico Madrid vs Club Brugge betting odds say they will see off Brugge on Tuesday.

Talking Points

Rojiblancos are back on song

Atleti played Espanyol at the weekend and, after a stuttering run of results they put a marker down with a statement 4-2 victory. Los Rojiblancos had to come from behind after an early Espanyol goal and they did so in style with a double from Alexander Sorloth, another strike from Ademola Lookman and a fourth from Giuliano Simeone, before the visitors grabbed a late consolation.

This was a good reaction to back to back league losses and the draw in Brugge, though Atleti did thrash Barcelona in the Copa del Rey sandwiched between defeats to Real Betis and Rayo Vallecano. The win over Espanyol cemented Atleti’s top four spot, six points clear of Betis in fifth and level on points with Villarreal. The win will give Atleti renewed confidence and, with the recently arrived Lookman starting to make his mark the hosts will have plenty of firepower primed for the visit of Brugge.

Brugge’s attacking threat

Christos Tzolis hopes to secure another goal in Club Brugge's Champions League match against Atletico Madrid — Club Brugge’s Christos Tzolis controls the ball during their Champions League play-off first leg match against Atletico Madrid

Atletico will give the Brugge defence plenty to think about on Tuesday night and, with the visitors’ attack in potent form too there is no doubt the Atletico Madrid vs Club Brugge highlights will be action packed again this week. Brugge were at home to Leuven on Saturday and goals from Tresoldi and Bjorn Meijer gave them a 2-1 victory to keep up the pressure on league leaders Unions Saint Gilloise. 21 year old German forward Tresoldi is the second top scorer in the Belgium First Division with nine goals, while 24 year old Greece winger Tzolis has the most league assists with ten, to add to his seven goals and, with 23 goals in 60 games for Brugge he is a potential match-winner. The Belgians have scored 13 goals in their last six games, only drawing a blank in a 1-0 loss to league leaders Union SG, an they thumped Olympique Marseilles 3-0 at the end of the group stage.

I can assure you this game will be well worth a look on Tuesday.

History

Atletico Madrid have been three times finalists in the Champions League, in 1974, 2014 and 2016 while Club Brugge lost the 1978 European Cup final to Liverpool.

The 3-3 draw from the first leg was the third stalemate in five games between these two teams, with Brugge winning when they met in Belgium in 2022, Los Rojiblancos victory came back in 2018, a 3-1 triumph at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

With three wins, one draw and two defeats from the last six games Atleti have been inconsistent to say the least, while Club Brugge have been in good form, winning four, drawing one and losing one.