While the two fail in their respective domestic leagues, Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid battle for an unexpected position in the Champions League semifinals when they meet at Signal Iduna Park in Germany.
Atletico Madrid hold a narrow 2-1 aggregate advantage after clinching victory in the first leg of the quarter-finals at home last week. Diego Simeone’s side were the better of the match, but a late consolation goal from Sebastien Haller gave Dortmund a 2-1 aggregate lead. Welcome lifeguard on your return home.
Neither club has performed well in their league this season. Atletico Madrid are on the brink of Champions League qualification as they remain fourth in the La Liga table, and Dortmund are in even greater danger as they sit in fifth place, outside the UCL. It purposely sets a difference.
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However, the scenario is different in European action, where the lights are brighter. Atletico Madrid stunned Italian champions Inter in the round of 16 to triumph at this stage, while Dortmund won a brutally difficult organization before eliminating PSV in the last knockout match.
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Atletico Madrid’s contrast at home and away is stark, and while European wizard Diego Simeone will have his well-organized squad to lead, it’s simply not formulated to preserve waves of tension like Simeone’s teams in the past.
Atletico Madrid have kept a clean sheet in any competition, at any venue, in just under two months, and have not done so on the road since last January, when Granada controlled just two of 17 shots on target. These are comments written all over the place.
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Even if Diego Simeone manages to conjure up more European witchcraft, Borussia Dortmund will come out strong in this match and put Atletico Madrid hot on their heels in the first forty-five minutes.
Throughout the season, Dortmund were better before the break. The Germans have scored 30 goals in the first half of this year’s Bundesliga and Champions League, putting them in eighth place among the “big five” of European leagues. Their output in the final forty-five minutes drops to just 27 goals in the second half, when classic maximum distributions often see a slight increase in offensive output after the break.
The merit of Atletico Madrid in a two-legged match is that they are guaranteed a home game in which they can put on a show. The problem is that he has to play away from home, where he has been incredibly poor. Diego Simeone’s side have been the best at the Metropolitano in Europe this season, winning all five of their home games 15-4 on aggregate, winning just one of their four away games, drawing with Lazio and Celtic while squandering against Inter. .
More recently, in a defensively forged Inter, they controlled only seven shots worth 0. 62 xG, and hit a few on target, as they failed to control goalkeeper Yann Sommer once. They controlled nine shots against porous Lazio, while conceding twice to European fighters. Celtic.
Dortmund were beaten by Atletico Madrid in the first leg, but buoyed by the comfort goal beaten, it will be tough at home, where they held their course against attack-minded PSV in the round of 16, as well as their overall solid defense. The performances were opposed to Frankfurt and Stuttgart even conceded.
Last weekend, Dortmund managed to hold on to a 2-1 win after wasting a player early in the second half, and their recent blank sheet against Bayern Munich also stands out, adding to the price of that pick.
With the Barcelona vs PSG match decided for television broadcast in the United States, this match between Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid will be broadcast exclusively on Paramount in English. It will also be available to be broadcast in Spanish on ViX.
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In the UK, this match will be televised by TNT Sports 2, and the broadcast will be on its dedicated streaming platform Discovery.
In Canada, every match of the 2023/24 Champions League tournament, this one, is broadcast on DAZN.