With a one-goal deficit to overcome in a format of the UEFA Champions League where there’s no away goal rule, Diego Simeone’s Atletico de Madrid, welcome last season’s finalists, Inter Milan to the Wanda Metropolitano for the 2nd leg of their R16 clash.
The game on Wednesday night, looking more unevenly balanced with every second that goes by in favour of Inter, will see two sides that are very similar in shape and style, go at each other for a spot in this season's quarter-finals.
Atletico will have to play a whole better than they have been doing recently to have any chance at all against Serie A’s pace-setters after their poor run of 3 losses, 2 wins and 1 draw in their last 6 games in all competitions.
Inter on the other hand, goes into this one, not having to change a thing about the way they have been playing of late with 6 wins out of their last 6 games in all competitions, a form they seem to have been in all season and not just recently.
Diego Simeone & the Metropolitano Will Put Up a Fight
Atletico Madrid is known to be a scrappy, hard-hitting, fighting side and most of that has been down to the manager in charge of the team, Diego Simeone. A man who played for Inter Milan during his playing days.
Atletico has always had the reputation for being a Spanish side that played their football like an Italian side, and Diego Simeone has had a whole lot to do with that, as is evident from the way he sets his side up, a 5-3-2.
Couple that dogmatic Simeone fighting spirit with the incredibly beautiful but hostile environment that the Wanda Metropolitano can offer, then maybe you have yourself a very great cocktail of “screw Inter up”
Inter’s Own Simeone, is Playing Some Great Football
Inter Milan will be coming to Atletico’s home with a Simeone of their own, except, he is not Diego, he is Inzaghi and his football is the other thing aside from his name that is very different to Atletico’s Simeone.
After winning 12 Serie A games on the trot, Inzghi’s Inter are firmly in the driving seat to win their 20th Scudetto as they sit atop the Italian Serie A with 75 points, boasting a whopping 16-point lead over rivals AC Milan in second place.
A testament to the not only effective but beautiful brand of football Inzaghi is playing with this Inter side, and something that means he and his Inter team can shift all their focus to Wednesday's last-16 clash with Atletico in the Champions League.
Match Stats
- Atletico Madrid hasn't kept a clean sheet in their last 5 matches while Inter have kept 4 clean sheets in 5 games.
- Atlético Madrid is undefeated in their last 6 home Champions League games in a row while no defeats can be found in Inter's 7 most recent games in the Champions League.
- This is the 3rd meeting between Atletico and Inter in UEFA club competitions with both sides winning a game each in the last 2 games, a 2-0 win for Atletico in the UEFA Super Cup and a 1-0 win for Inter in the 1st leg of this encounter.
You can check out the Atletico Madrid vs Inter Milan UEFA Champions League game here on MSport:
