Preview: Red Bull Salzburg vs. Atletico Madrid – prediction, team news, lineups

Atletico Madrid will look to seal a spot in the last 16 of the Champions League when they travel to Austria for Wednesday’s meeting with Red Bull Salzburg.

In contrast to the visitors, Salzburg only have pride to play for in the final match of the league phase, having taken just three points from seven matches.

Match preview

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After negotiating their way through qualifying, Salzburg would have entered the main draw with aspirations of reaching the Champions League knockout rounds for the first time since 2021-22 when they finished second in their group to advance to the last 16.

Unfortunately for the Austrian side, they have fallen significantly short of that objective, having lost six of their seven matches in the league phase, leaving them in the 34th position and seven points adrift of the top 24.

They lost their opening three games of the main draw by a combined 9-0 scoreline, before they followed a 3-1 victory against Feyenoord with heavy defeats against Bayer Leverkusen and Paris Saint-Germain.

The 3-0 home defeat to PSG proved to be the penultimate game of Pep Lijnders’ tenure, with the Salzburg board opting to part ways with former Liverpool assistant manager, leaving the reigning Austrian champions in fifth place in their domestic league, with a 10-point gap to leaders Sturm Graz.

Salzburg subsequently appointed former Bochum boss Thomas Letsch, who experienced a difficult start in last week’s trip to the Spanish capital, seeing his side concede four goals before the hour mark in a 5-1 Champions League defeat against Real Madrid.

While they may be eliminated, Wednesday’s hosts will be keen to sign off by claiming their first home win of the league phase, although that may be easier said than done given the fact they have failed to win their last three Champions League matches against Spanish opposition since beating Sevilla in December 2021.

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Atletico have guaranteed some form of knockout football, having won five and lost two of their seven matches in the league phase, leaving them in fifth position with a two-point buffer to those sitting outside the top eight.

Atleti lost two of their opening three matches, before Angel Correa scored a stoppage-time winner against PSG to give his side some much-needed impetus in the main draw.

Diego Simeone’s side backed up that result with victories over the next three matchdays, including a dramatic 2-1 win in last week’s home meeting with Bayer Leverkusen despite trailing 1-0 at half time with a numerical disadvantage following Pablo Barrios’ 25th-minute red card.

Julian Alvarez pulled a goal back in the opening stages of the second half, before Piero Hincapie was shown a red card to equal the numbers just over 10 minutes before Alvarez netted a last-minute winner to clinch three precious points, ensuring they will enter the final matchday with a strong chance of progressing to the last 16.

Unfortunately for Atleti, they will travel to Austria off the back of a frustrating 1-1 home draw against Villarreal, allowing Real Madrid to stretch the gap at the top of the league table to four points, denting Atletico’s hopes of lifting their third La Liga title under Simeone.

Los Colchoneros will fancy their chances of returning to winning ways in Wednesday’s contest, having won each of their previous four European away matches in Austria, scoring nine times and conceding on just two occasions during that period.

Red Bull Salzburg Champions League form:

Red Bull Salzburg form (all competitions):

Atletico Madrid Champions League form:

Atletico Madrid form (all competitions):

Team News

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Salzburg remain without the services of Karim Konate and Maurits Kjaergaard due to knee and ankle injuries respectively.

Left-back Daouda Guindo is unlikely to be involved after he missed last week’s defeat to Real Madrid with a knee issue.

The Austrian side have signed Maximiliano Caufriez and Karim Onisiwo on loan and permanent deals respectively, but the pair are not registered for the league phase, making them available for Wednesday’s fixture.

As for the visitors, Javi Galan is set to be out for up to four weeks after sustaining an ankle injury in last week’s Champions League outing.

Barrios will miss matchday seven through suspension following his straight red card in the first half against Leverkusen.

Meanwhile, defender Clement Lenglet is set to return to the Atletico backline after serving a one-match ban in La Liga.

Alexander Sorloth returned from injury to be an unused substitute at the weekend, and the forward will hope to get some valuable minutes off the bench in Wednesday’s fixture.

Red Bull Salzburg possible starting lineup:Blaswich; Dedic, Baidoo, Blank, Terzic; Yeo, Bidstrup, Capaldo, Gloukh; Daghim, Nene

Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:Oblak; Molina, Le Normand, Azpilicueta; Simeone, Koke, De Paul, Lino; Griezmann, Lino

We say: Red Bull Salzburg 0-2 Atletico Madrid

Atletico may have experienced frustration in their last two La Liga outings, but had no such trouble in recent Champions League fixtures, and we think the Spanish side will have the quality required to claim a fifth consecutive European victory with a relatively comfortable win over Salzburg.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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