RB Leipzig and Atletico Madrid will lock horns in Lisbon on Thursday night with a place in the last-four of the Champions League up for grabs.
This looks like a really intriguing straight knockout-tie as it will pit two teams against each other who have very contrasting styles of play.
Leipzig, under the stewardship of the young and innovative Julian Naglesmann, lit up the Bundesliga last season and Die Roten Bullen brilliantly shredded Spurs in the round of 16 to set up this mouthwatering meeting with Atletico Madrid.
A Diego Simeone defensive masterclass saw Atleti dispatch defending champions Liverpool at Anfield back in March – a result which sent the Spaniards into the quarter-final stage of the competition for the fifth time in the last seven seasons.
Closer to home the men from Madrid enjoyed a really strong end to the season where they avoided defeat in each of their 11 post-break 11 La Liga fixtures.
The capital club are notorious for being set up to be compact and difficult to breakdown and that task has heightened for a Leipzig side who will be without top goalscorer Timo Werner who has completed a move to Chelsea.
Outright Betting
RB Leipzig have avoided defeat in each of their last six Champions League matches, however, the bookies fancy that run to end in Lisbon with a German success in normal time trading at 49/20 with UniBet.
Atletico Madrid begin this match as 27/20 favourites with Bet 365 while an all-square affair – an outcome that would set up extra-time and potential penalty-kicks – pays 11/5 with BetVictor.
Betting Angles
This fixture represents RB Leipzig's toughest test in this season's Champions League and Julian Naglesmann's vibrant young side will have to work hard if they are to progress to the semi-final stage for the first time in their short history.
It may not come as a surprise to learn that there have been under 2.5 goals scored in six of Atletico Madrid's last seven Champions League assignments but a repeat on Thursday looks slightly short at 8/13 with Bet 365.
Simeone and Co are masters at defensive resilience and I suspect we could see a cagey and low-scoring affair play out at the Estadio Jose Alvalade on Thursday night – since coming out of cold storage Atleti have conceded a mere six goals across their 11 matches.
What's more, Atletico Madrid are in the midst of an eye-catching 18 match unbeaten run and given that they are notoriously streetwise at this level I fancy Atleti to edge this encounter with a Leipzig side who limped to a top-four finish in the Bundesliga.
Atleti are a well-schooled outfit who should prove to be awkward knockout opponents in one-legged showdowns and I suspect Simeone's troops will have enough tactical nous to tame a Leipzig side who will be without talisman Timo Werner.
Indeed, an Atletico Madrid win in normal time is tempting at 27/20 (Bet 365), however, I'm going to take a slightly more cautious approach by combining Atleti to qualify alongside under five match goals which will give us a nice looking 4/5 shot with Bet 365.
I'm also going to delve into William Hill's Build Your Odds feature with the view to backing both teams to collect over one card at an enticing 11/10 (William Hill).
Atleti are a dogged and determined bunch but Leipzig's expansive style of play could leave them open to cutthroat counter-attacks and with both of those factors in mind I'm happy to have a play on both teams to pick up two or more cards.
What's more, referee Szymon Marciniak is averaging 4.32 cards per-game this season and the Polish whistler could be set for a busy night when overseeing what should be a closely-fought and competitive contest.
This UEFA Champions League match between RB Leipzig and Atletico Madrid will be played on Aug 13, 2020 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best RB Leipzig vs Atletico Madrid prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
