Low Odds, High Odds: UCL RO16 - 23/02/22

On Wednesday night, Atletico Madrid and Manchester United go head to head in the first leg of the Champions League’s Round of 16 at the Wanda Metropolitano in what is set up to be a fascinating tie.

Atletico finished as runners-up in Group B behind Liverpool, managing just seven points, but, Diego Simeone’s men managed enough to finish ahead of the likes of FC Porto and AC Milan, whilst United topped Group F which contained the likes of Villarreal, Atalanta and Young Boys.

Both sides are underperforming in their domestic leagues, with the hosts sitting in fifth place in La Liga after 25 matches, whilst United who have had a gruesome campaign which culminated in the sacking of club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are fourth, but, are in a troublesome position under Interim Manager Ralf Rangnick, with some of their rivals having a significant amount of games in hand on the Old Trafford club.

Two players that know their opponents well are Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez, having plied their trades at their opposing club’s rivals in the past, with Ronaldo managing 25 goals and nine assists in 35 appearances for Juventus and Real Madrid against Atletico, whilst Suarez has scored two goals and created two assists in four appearances against the Red Devils for their fierce rivals, Liverpool.

This is a tie that could go either way, with it likely being separated by tight margins as Simeone is expected to deploy a defensive setup that will be tough for United to break down, whilst Rangnick’s men will go on the attack, utilising the high tempo ‘gegenpressing’ style that the German coach has looked to impose since his arrival.

Despite some lacklustre performances of late in a United shirt, Ronaldo showed against Brighton the sort of quality that he possesses when he struck in a world-class goal to open the scoring last week and will be hoping to show his quality in the Champions League once again.

The 37-year-old who was re-signed from Juventus in the summer holds the Champions League record for the number of goals scored, firing in 138 times over his illustrious career that has seen him win this competition on five separate occasions. So far this campaign, Ronaldo has scored five in five Champions League appearances in this season’s group stages.

In the Champions League’s other Round of 16 knockout tie on Wednesday night, Benfica host Ajax in the first leg at the Estadio da Luz.

Despite Benfica’s prestige and talent in their squad, Ajax come into this game as favourites having comfortably topped Group C with 18 points from a possible of 18, hammering the likes of Sporting Lisbon, Borussia Dortmund and Besiktas on their way, whilst the Liga Nos outfit managed to pull off a shock by finishing second in Group E, ahead of Barcelona and Dynamo Kyiv, but, behind Bayern Munich.

A player that has certainly impressed as much as anyone in the Champions League this campaign is former Eintracht Frankfurt and West Ham United striker Sebastien Haller, as the Ivory Coast international is the competition’s top scorer so far with 10 goals and two assists in six matches, averaging a goal every 49 minutes.

This match could perhaps be comparable to the two fixtures that Ajax played against Sporting in the group stages, as their opponents in Group C are the current champions of Portugal.

Ajax won the away match at the Jose Alvalade Stadium 5-1, with there being a combined nine corners, with five to the home team and four to the away, on top of there being six yellow cards handed out.

When Erik ten Hag’s men met Sporting in Amsterdam at the Johan Cruijff Arena, they thumped them 4-2 with each team scoring in each half, with there being 10 corners in the match and a total of four yellow cards in the match.