Atletico facing uphill battle against Real Madrid

Published on May 8th, 2017 9:45 pm EST
Written By: Cian Murray
Cristiano Ronaldo - the hat trick hero from the first leg of the Champions League semi final vs. Atletico.  Archive photo. When the draw was made for the quarter-finals, almost nobody would have predicted that Real Madrid would sweep past Atletico with such ease. They were phenomenal in the first-leg and were superior to their opposition in almost every facet of the game.

One La Liga team has already provided us with a comeback to remember in this season's Champions League, but Barcelona's tie against PSG wasn't anything like this encounter. PSG aren't as defensively solid as Los Blancos and Atletico don't have the same attacking threat as Barca.

Thus, a similar comeback seems unlikely. That being said, you never know what will happen when world-class teams face off in this competition. If you think Diego Simeone's side can do what many pundits have described as impossible, you can back them to qualify at a price of 16/1.

Real are an unbackable at 1/66 to qualify. There is far more value in the 'to win' market if you want to back Zidane's side. They are priced at 13/8 to win the game, while Atletico are 6/4 and the draw is a generous 13/5.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the hero for Madrid in the first leg. He dominated the play and put away a tremendous hat-trick. If you want to back him to get the first goal here, he is available at a price of 7/2.

Other Real players to catch our eye in that market are Karim Benzema and Luka Modric. They are priced at 5/1 and 14/1 respectively.

Atletico aren't without their own superstars. Antoine Griezmann is an obvious first port of call when it comes to goalscorers within their side and he is priced at a very generous 5/1.

Other players within their team to catch the eye include Kevin Gameiro and Fernando Torres, who are both priced at 6/1 to get the opening goal in this game.

For the game to go to extra time, Atletico would have to win by three goals to nil and this unlikely event is priced at 28/1. Of course, stranger things have happened, but we just don't envisage it happening.

We quite simply can't see Atletico keeping a team that contains Ronaldo, Modric and Benzema scoreless and if Los Blancos get one goal, then Atletico have to get five. It is a mountainous task to say the least.

Our top bet is backing both teams to score. This is priced at 4/7 - best of luck!

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