Atletico are favourites against Bayer
On Tuesday night German club Bayer Leverkusen host Spanish side Atletico Madrid at the BayArena in the Champions League last-16 first leg.
The home side have been experiencing a difficult domestic campaign and currently sit eighth in the Bundesliga table, four points behind Hertha Berlin who occupy the last Europa League spot.
Despite their struggles in the Bundesliga, Bayer were unbeaten in the group stages of this comp, winning twice and drawing their other four games. Roger Schmidt’s side finished second in their group behind Monaco.
Bayer do not have a great record in the Champions League, though, as the German side have won just two of their last 11 games in Europe’s elite competition. However, seven of those games have been drawn, so Schmidt’s side are eight games unbeaten in the competition.
The home side are also unbeaten in their last eight Champions League games at the BayArena, but once again four of those games have finished in draws. Bayer’s form has picked up of late in the Bundesliga, with Schmidt’s side recording consecutive victories and scoring three goals in each of the wins.
Like Bayer, Atletico Madrid are not experiencing the best of domestic campaigns and are currently sitting fourth in La Liga, seven points behind rivals and league leaders Real Madrid.
However, Diego Simeone’s team enjoyed a strong group stage winning their first five games and topping their group ahead of European giants Bayern Munich. The side from the Spanish capital also kept four clean sheets in their six group games.
Simeone’s side’s games in the Champions League have been very low-scoring, with under 2.5 goals scored in five of their six games in the group stages. Atletico have hit form of late in La Liga, recording three consecutive victories.
Atletico Madrid will be considered as favourites for this game, but Bayer are hard to beat on their own patch.
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