Champions League Dortmund vs Atletico Madrid: These really are Big Hitters!

Borussia Dortmund vs Atletico Madrid

Champions League football returns this week, and in one of the best match-ups, Diego Simeone takes Atletico Madrid to face Lucien Favre’s Dortmund.

Make no mistake, Champions League Dortmund vs Atletico Madrid is no meeting of makeweights, both teams are in impressive form and have the capability to go all the way. It’s a top of Group A clash at the Signal Iduna Park, with BVB and Atleti both having won two from two. Someone has to give, and over 80,000 fans will pack into the stadium to see just who it is, the vast majority hoping it’s the Spaniards.

The Dortmund vs Atletico Madrid odds gives home advantage some weight, as you always would with the formidable Yellow Wall facing the visitors, but Simeone’s team is made of granite and neither side is odds-on in a well-balanced clash.

Talking Points

BVB is firing on all cylinders

With eight wins and two draws from its last ten games in all competitions, Lucien Favre’s team sits proudly at the top of the Bundesliga, three points clear and having put in some stunning performances, including a 7-0 thrashing of Nurnberg.

This BVB side is playing with attacking intent every time it crosses the white line and has added to that a clinical way of dispatching opponents as Monaco will testify, following their 3-0 defeat, at the hands of the Bundesliga leaders, in the recent Champions League bout.

Champions League Dortmund vs Atletico Madrid: BVB forward Paco Alcacer ready for Group A match versus Rojiblancos — Borussia Dortmund forward Paco Alcacer celebrates after scoring his team’s fourth goal against Augsburg

Dortmund has won six on the run and is scoring for fun, netting 19 goals in the last five games alone. Paco Alcacer is heading the Bundesliga scoring charts with seven goals and skipper Marco Reus isn’t far behind with five. Both were on target in a 0-4 destruction of Stuttgart at the weekend, as was the impressive youngster Jadon Sancho. The young English winger is making headlines around the world and recently made his international debut, as the first player born in the 21^st century, to represent the Three Lions.

Sancho is playing without fear and is a prolific source of assists, which is great news for Alcacer.

With Jacob Bruun Larson and Axel Witsel sitting just behind these sharpshooters, this is a team with considerable firepower.

Atletico has Champions League pedigree

But they haven’t yet come up against a defence as strong as Atletico’s. The Madrid team’s rearguard has for some time been the meanest in Europe. Diego Simeone knows how to set up a defence to frustrate, holding Real Madrid to a goalless draw in the recent Madrid derby. He has one of the best keepers in world football in Jan Oblak, and in front the Uruguay defensive partnership of Diego Godin and Jose Maria Gimenez. The young Gimenez is learning well from his mentor, and he also provides an attacking threat from set pieces, scoring a late winner for Uruguay against Egypt at Russia 2018.

Atleti has Champions league quality running right through its team, with Spain wide man Saul Niguez in sparkling form, alongside midfield maestro and captain Koke.

Striker Antoine Griezmann has been in the Champions League goals, with a brace against Club Brugge, and he also scored two in France’s recent nations League win over Germany.

History

This is the first competitive meeting between these two sides; so with no historical Dortmund vs Atletico Madrid results to work on, let’s take a look at the recent form.

Atletico has won five from the last seven including the impressive 3-1 over Club Brugge, which made it six points from two games in the Champions League, and they are unbeaten in eight in all competitions with five wins and three draws.

BVB is unbeaten in ten, though arguably this is the biggest test they have faced so far.

Atleti has been to the Champions League final three times, most recently in 2014 and 2016, losing both games to Los Blancos.

Dortmund has gone one better, winning the tournament in 1997 and making the final in 2013, losing to FC Bayern.

Fans of both teams must be sick of living in the shadows of their biggest rivals. Could this be their year?

Betting Tip

	Borussia Dortmund vs Atletico Madrid	Over 2.50 Goals @ 2.11
	October 25, 03:00 (GMT+8)

BVB is marginally favourite to win at odds of 2.51 with SBOBET; while Atletico comes in at 2.81 and the draw is 3.15.

It’s going to be a fiercely fought battle and, for an alternative bet, you can get odds of 1.96 on a first-half stalemate.

Under 2.50 goals is available at 1.80, and while Atleti’s defence is legendary, I just think BVB’s attack is relentless, which might just make Simeone’s men come out on attack themselves.