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Atlético Madrid will attempt to move one step closer to Champions League knockout stage qualification when they host Club Brugge on Wednesday night.
The mattress makers are fresh off a goalless draw at Real Madrid on Saturday and are in solid recent form, with three wins and two draws from the past five. Still, with just one truly convincing result from this stretch — a 3-0 pasting of Huesca last Tuesday — Atlético could do with a comprehensive win on the international stage.
Club Brugge are perceived as Group A’s weakest team and lost at home to Borussia Dortmund in matchday one. Still, they are the defending Belgian champions and have started this season in tantalizing form — eight wins and one draw from their opening nine fixtures.
Brugge also have history against Atlético. They eliminated los rojiblancos from the 1977/78 European Cup quarterfinals by a 4-3 aggregate score and came back to knock out Atleti on away goals at the same stage of the 1991/92 Cup Winners’ Cup.
|CONVOCATORIA
— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) October 2, 2018
¡Ya la tenemos! ¡La lista para el #AtletiBrujas de @LigadeCampeones! #AúpaAtleti #UCL pic.twitter.com/U13gXEGNUY
Atlético are without the injured Gelson Martins, Stefan Savić and Vitolo. Diego Simeone probably won’t rotate very much from the team that took the pitch on Saturday — look for Thomas Partey to anchor the midfield, and it’s expected Simeone will continue to roll with the Diego Costa-Antoine Griezmann pairing despite the Spain international’s poor form.
Possible XI
Oblak; Arias, Giménez, Godín, Lucas; Thomas, Saúl, Koke, Lemar; Griezmann, Costa.
Predicted scoreline
Atlético 2-0 Brugge.
How to watch
Date: Oct. 3, 2018
Location: Estadio Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain
Kickoff time: 9:00 p.m. CEST, 8:00 p.m. GMT/BST, 3:00 p.m. EST, 12:00 p.m. PST
SB Nation opposition blog: N/A
Available TV/streaming: Movistar+ (Spain), BT Sport Extra (United Kingdom), B/R Live (United States), RMC Sport Live (France), Club RTL, Proximus 11+ (Belgium), DAZN (Germany), PPTV Sport (China)
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