How will Atlético Madrid line up at Galatasaray?

Atlético Madrid restart their UEFA Champions League campaign with an away trip to face Victor Osimhen and Galatasaray in Istanbul on Wednesday night.

Having played six league phase fixtures at the back end of last year, the clash at Rams Park will be the penultimate match at this stage of the competition — with Atleti nicely poised to qualify for the last 16.

As a reminder, those who finish in the top eight of the 36-team league table will go straight through to March’s round of 16, but those who fall between ninth and 24th position will play an additional two-legged play-off match in February.

As it stands, Diego Simeone’s men have picked up 12 points from six games, with a record of four wins, zero draws and two losses. A draw in Turkey would guarantee a play-off place, but a win would put automatic qualification in Atlético’s own hands when they play Bodø/Glint at home next week.

Los Rojiblancos have shown some of their best performances of the season in the Champions League, and impressive wins against Inter Milan and PSV Eindhoven are proof of that. Defensive frailties were shown up away to Arsenal and Liverpool of the Premier League, but fun was had at the 5-1 home rout of Eintracht Frankfurt. There was also a 3-1 home win against Union St.Gilloise.

As for Wednesday’s hosts, they have reversed Atleti’s results against much of the same sides. Gala took a heavy 5-1 loss against Frankfurt on the opening match day, before going on to beat Liverpool and lose to Union. Let’s hope that’s where the coincidences end, as Galatasaray beat Bodø/Glint already.

Their nine points collected (3, 0, 3) has them in 18th place and ready to fight to stay in the play-offs. Next week they will head to Manchester to close their league phase journey with a match against Man City, so they’ll be extra motivated to come away with something from this one.

Atleti are unbeaten against Galatasaray in six previous continental meetings, with the most memorable win coming in the first round of the 1973/74 season. Back then, the whole format was a straight knock-out draw, and that famous Atlético team led by Luis Aragonés reached the final. Most recently, Atleti did the double over their Turkish counterparts in the 2015/16 group stage — a season in which also culminated with a heartbreaking final loss.

There have been a handful of players to have worn the jerseys of both clubs at some point in their careers, notably Arda Turan, Radamel Falcao and Álvaro Morata. Arda bookended his career at Gala and now manages Shakhtar Donetsk, but some have suggested that he could find himself managing one (or both) of his former sides in the future.

There will be a minute’s silence before kick-off, held in memory of those who lost their lives in the tragic rail accident in Spain on Sunday.

Team news

Only Clément Lenglet hasn’t been able to travel to Turkey, as he continues his recovery from injury. All other players are at El Cholo’s dispense, including five players from the academy. Replacements for Conor Gallagher and Giacomo Raspadori are yet to come through the door, meaning there’s plenty of chance for youth to fill the gap for now.

Pedro Fullana of Cadena SER has reported that club CEO Miguel Ángel Gil Marín and Men’s Football Director Mateu Alemany have also made the journey, as they look to close the signing of new players coming in this window. They may have some direct business to do whilst out in Istanbul, as local journalist Yagiz Sabuncuoglu has suggested that Galatasaray themselves have made an official bid to sign Thiago Almada on loan.

Nico Gonzalez returns to the squad after picking up an injury against Girona FC on December 21 of last year, but it is unlikely he’ll feature from the beginning. All signs point toward Álex Baena regaining his spot on the left of midfield, especially due to the uncertainty of Almada’s future and Gallagher’s departure last week.

It will be interesting to see what Simeone decides to do up front, considering Julián Alvarez‘s current form and the goals that Alexander Sørloth has been providing of late. Don’t be surprised to see Antoine Griezmann come into the starting 11 to partner the Norway big man.

We can expect Marc Pubill to keep up his fine work at the back, partnering with Dávid Hancko to allow Matteo Ruggeri another game at left-back. The rest of the team should be pretty straightforward to predict, but recently Johnny Cardoso has made his first inroads to the team, taking Koke‘s spot in the center of midfield.

Predicted lineup

Oblak; Llorente, Pubill, Hancko, Ruggeri; Giuliano, Barrios, Cardoso, Baena; Griezmann, Sørloth.