Atletico Madrid host Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, with Diego Simeone’s side looking to secure themselves a strong foundation before heading to Germany.
Both sides head into the fixture after finishing top of their groups: Atletico four points clear of second-place Lazio, and Dortmund three points clear of PSG.
Now on the hunt to secure a place in the semi-finals the home team will be looking to take a comfortable lead into the second leg away at Dortmund. While the visitors will be doing all they can to ensure they head into their home leg in the lead.
In what could be an entertaining and cagey tie between two teams struggling for form domestically, a Champions League night is now more important than ever.
Both sides are out of the title race in their respective leagues, sitting in fourth and fifth place, over 20 points behind the league leaders.
Match details
With all to play for, Simeone’s side head into the fixture off the back of six losses from their last 12 in all competitions, only making it to this stage of the competition after knocking out Inter Milan on penalties.
Meanwhile, the visitors were on a potential six-game winning streak that was ended by defeat at the weekend in the Bundesliga.
Expected Line-ups
Ahead of the match, Mario Hermoso is a major doubt for Atletico, while Thomas Lemar is ruled out.
Dortmund could potentially see the return of Donyell Malen after being out with a thigh injury; however, Ramy Bensebaini is still ruled out.
We have provided a preview of the expected lineups below:
Key Players
Below, we have highlighted some of the key players looking to make life difficult for their opponents.
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