Atletico will look to remain unbeaten when they visit Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. The hosts will enter matchday five in third place after earning six points from their four games. The Spanish team leads Group E at the moment.
Preview (Feyenoord vs. Atletico Madrid)
For their first Champions League group stage campaign since 2017–18, Feyenoord has had a mixed run of success. They won or lost each of their four games. In the end, the Eredivisie winners have had the luxury of playing at home. They defeated Lazio and Celtic in front of their own fans in Rotterdam. However, they have lost both of their away games, including a 3-2 loss to Atletico at the start of October. Matchday four of their most recent European trip saw Arne Slot’s team lose to Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico. This was their eighth straight-away Champions League loss (including qualifying).
With a 1-0 loss, Lazio moved up to second place, moving Feyenoord one point outside the top two and making them aware that a loss on Tuesday would eliminate their chances of making the playoffs should Lazio defeat Celtic in the other group match. Feyenoord will also be well aware that a victory in midweek will put them ahead of their rivals. They won their past seven close home games and have every right to feel optimistic. After Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Excelsior, in which Santiago Gimenez scored a hat-trick to increase his Eredivisie goal total for 2023 to 28 goals, the most by any player in the Dutch league since Luis Suarez, the hosts will undoubtedly be in a good mood.
After winning both of their games at home and drawing both of their road matches against Lazio and Celtic, Atletico enters matchday five leading Group E. On their trip to Glasgow last month, they had to settle for a 2-2 result. They were far less polite in the rematch. Antoine Griezmann and Alvaro Morata scored braces in a commanding 6-0 victory over a 10-man Celtic. It increases Atletico’s lead to eight points and guarantees at least a spot in the Europa League knockout stages.
Team News
The winger for Feyenoord, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, is expected to miss the game for the second straight due to an injury he received while playing for Iran internationally. Bart Nieuwkoop is anticipated to miss Tuesday’s game due to a hamstring injury he sustained on Saturday. This could allow 31-year-old defender Gernot Trauner to take his position in the backline. The prolific Gimenez has scored 18 goals in 16 competitive games this season. It included a brace in Feyenoord’s 3-1 victory against Lazio in their third group match. They will be hoping to keep up his good play. Due to respective Achilles and knee problems, the visitors are still without the services of Thomas Lemar and Vitolo.
Rodrigo de Paul, the World Cup winner, will start for the third time during the group stage after missing the 6-0 victory over Celtic due to suspension. Rodrigo Riquelme, Nahuel Molina, and Jose Maria Gimenez were benched on Saturday, but they could be added back into the starting lineup for the trip midweek. Feyenoord may be confident in their ability to defeat their Spanish opponents in Wednesday’s Champions League fixture, having won their previous seven home games. Nevertheless, Atleti has only dropped two of its 22 competitive games this year, and we believe they will pick up another point from their midweek trip to the Netherlands after drawing their previous two away group matches.
Feyenoord 2 – 2 Atletico Madrid
For more football previews, click here
