Two English teams will be in the middle of attention on Wednesday afternoon. Manchester City travels to Madrid to face Atletico, while Liverpool meets with Benfica at home. For many, the more interesting matchup will be at Wanda Metropolitan, where Citizens defend a 1-0 lead from the opening leg. We will make a preview for that event in this article and a short analysis of the contest at Anfield. 

Atletico Madrid VS Manchester City

The host lost this weekend against Mallorca on the road, 1-0, and that was something just a few expected. It was the fourth time in the past five games that we saw only one goal during all 90 minutes. Of course, all those events were with just one sides netting. 

The positive fact in their recent statistics is three straight wins at home. In all of them, Felix, Griezmann, and the boys hit the back of the rivals’ net at least twice. That is something they would need to repeat to advance to the next stage.

Meanwhile, Manchester City had a very tough game this weekend against Liverpool but managed to take one point and stay ahead of the reds in the standings. The game could go either way, but the final result was fair in the end.

This was the ninth straight game in which the Citizens haven’t lost, with them recording six victories and three draws. They are even more confident on the road, where they didn’t suffer a defeat in 13 consecutive matches. Also, Man City would keep a clean sheet on six occasions in the past seven road trips. 

Head to Head

The first leg saw Manchester’s 1-0 win, and it came with Kevin de Bruyne’s late goal. Throughout all 90 minutes, the hosts were attacking, while on the other end, Atletico defended with all the players on the field. The Spaniards turned to their old recipe, displaying football anti-propaganda. Yet eventually, they were punished and didn’t get away with a draw.

Prediction

The Citizens are a better team than Atletico and they will prove that on Wednesday night. What is crucial here is that Atletico needs to open and attack, which will expose their defense at some point, and City’s pacey forwards will use that convenience. 

Pick: Man City 4/5 at BetXchange

Liverpool VS Benfica

The Reds missed a perfect chance to beat the Citizens at Etihad and take over the top spot in the EPL. They can’t lament over that now but have to dig deep and finish the business with Benfica.

Liverpool won the opening leg in Lisbon, 3-1, displaying a dominant performance and putting the Eagles in their place. There was no way for the hosts to endanger the English powerhouse, even in the moments when they cut the lead to 2-1. It was just a matter of time before the Reds struck back and solved the event.

Benfica’s defense is shaky, and they have had problems with that area of the team for quite some time. The offense usually covers up the situation, but on certain occasions, they can’t. 

Our pick here would be Liverpool to win and to do it confidently, by at least a two-goal margin.

Pick: Liverpool -1.5 7/10 at BetXchange

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