Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid have a 4-2 aggregate lead to protect against Bayer Leverkusen, and he’s named a squad appropriate to the task. There’s nothing fancy about his team, but with Simeone there rarely is, and the crowd at the Calderon will still get plenty to enjoy.
Atletico Madrid vs. Bayer Leverkusen: Confirmed Champions League lineups and team news
A confident Diego Simeone has named a squad that he will definitely expect to do well against Bayer Leverkusen.
Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images
Simeone’s squad looks set up to play on the counter, with a quicker group than normal. Atletico will be looking to sit back a bit and then fire off hard-hitting counters that Bayer will have a hard time containing, banking on the Germans’ desperation to score early and often to open up opportunities for Atleti to score a dagger of a goal off the counter.
Bayer, for their part, are putting out as string of a squad as they can right now. Julian Brandt, Kevin Volland, Karim Bellarabi, and Javier Hernandez represent a potent attack, though one that’s been misfiring quite a bit of late. If they can get on the same page Wednesday, Atleti might have more of a fight than they were betting on.
Atletico Madrid starting lineup (4-4-2): Jan Oblak; Lucas Hernandez, Jose Gimenez, Diego Godin, Sime Vrsaljko; Yannick Carrasco, Thomas Partey, Saul, Koke; Angel Correa, Antoine Griezmann
Bayer Leverkusen starting lineup (4-4-2): Bernd Leno; Wendell, Aleksandar Dragovic, Tin Jedvaj, Roberto Hilbert; Karim Bellarabi, Julian Baumgartlinger, Kevin Kampl, Julian Brandt; Kevin Volland, Javier Hernandez
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