A new Champions League season begins for Atlético de Madrid on Thursday night, as Los Colchoneros welcome RB Leipzig to the Metropolitano to kick off their league phase campaign.
Atlético Madrid are playing Champions League football for a 13th consecutive season — but this is the first without the once-standard “group stage” format. Instead, Atlético will face eight separate opponents (four home, four away) one time each as part of the new 36-team, 144-game “league phase” — where finishing inside the top eight results in immediate progression to the last 16, while finishing between 9th and 24th will warrant a two-legged “knockout tie” to reach the competition’s latter stages.
Simeone: “Leipzig is a team that works very well and can play in many ways, against Leverkusen they were in a low block and played on the counter, against Union they attacked the whole game with fast players, jumping to press. We will see what we find, we have seen both versions” pic.twitter.com/f1bc9wOMEe
— The Partido a Partido Podcast (@ThePaPPod) September 18, 2024
Like Atlético, RB Leipzig are unbeaten in league play so far — although Marco Rose’s men have faced 11 more shots than they have taken. Even still, Leipzig recently defeated last season’s unbeaten Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen and have an enviable collection of young talent — led by Netherlands midfielder Xavi Simons, who scored eight goals and set up 11 more in the league last year.
Leipzig this summer acquired Arthur Vermeeren on loan from Atlético, although all parties expect the Belgium international eventually to complete a permanent transfer there. Vermeeren hasn’t had the chance to make much of an impact in Germany just yet, with only 27 minutes played across two games. But RBL Talk podcast host Justin Croser tells Into the Calderón that he is eager to see the 19-year-old pick up more game action.
“From what I’ve seen in training videos and in those 27 minutes he can make good hard challenges, he has a keen eye for a pass and is a natural ball winner,” Croser said. “I think he can play as a #8 like a good central box-box midfielder, or for me a #6 as he’s shown that he is smart with a good footy IQ, he’s a physical player and has good stamina.”
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I am joined by admin of @intothecalderon Jeremy Beren also host of Cochonero Chat podcast for a preview of our upcoming opponent Atletico MadridListen Subscribe ✅ Leave a review ✍️https://t.co/Tu3UVZe3mC
— RBL Talk: An RB Leipzig Podcast (@RBLTalk) September 18, 2024
Despite scoring the opening goal against Valencia at the weekend, Conor Gallagher is not expected to start against Leipzig as Diego Simeone seems to prefer the Rodrigo Riquelme/Samuel Lino duo down the left flank for this game. The season is still young, but Simeone appears to have settled on a first-choice defense trio of César Azpilicueta, Josema Giménez, and Robin Le Normand — while Marcos Llorente is clearly El Cholo’s first-choice right wing-back. Up top, Antoine Griezmann will partner Julián Alvarez to start, relegating former Leipzig forward Alexander Sørloth to the bench.
This game preview will be updated with the confirmed matchday squad.
Date Sept. 19, 2024
Location Estadio Metropolitano
Kickoff time 9:00 P.M. CET, 8:00 BST, 3:00 p.m. ET, 12:00 p.m. PT
Available TV/streaming Paramount+ (United States), Movistar+ (Spain)