Champions League Match Schedule: Atletico Madrid Trying To Catch Deficit From Manchester City, Liverpool Relax Against Benfica
JAKARTA - The second leg of the quarter-finals of the European Champions League (UCL) 2021/2022 season continues again Thursday, April 14 in the morning WIB. The fierce match will bring Atletico Madrid versus Manchester City and Liverpool against Benfica.
Both matches will take place on Thursday, April 14 at 02.00 WIB. Atletico will host The Citizen at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, while Liverpool will welcome the arrival of Portugal's representatives at Anfield.
Atletico will try to overturn the goal deficit after losing 1-0 at the Etihad last week. The narrow defeat meant that Atletico's chances of reaching the semifinals remained even though it was very small compared to the visitors.
In order to turn things around at the Wanda Metropolitano and find a place in the semifinals for the first time since 2016/2017, Atletico will have to pose a threat to the opposition goal from the start. This is what they didn't do for 90 minutes when they were guests at the Etihad.
Even though they only appeared defensive at the Etihad, Atletico still had optimism when they hosted it this morning. Diego Simeone's side have won each of their last three games at home in La Liga.
However, since October 2020 Los Rojiblancos have never won another match at home while playing in the European Champions League. In that period, they only drew four times and lost three times.
Meanwhile, Liverpool are in a much safer position when they host Benfica later. Jurgen Klopp's side have already put one foot in the semifinals after claiming a 3-1 win away to Estadio da Luz.
Trying to overturn a two-goal deficit in front of the Kop is an uphill task for Benfica. Nonetheless, Nunez's goal did at least give the Portuguese side some hope as they travel to Merseyside.
In addition, the Uruguay international, who is in great demand by Europe's elite clubs, was the star of last weekend's show. He scored a hat-trick for his team in the Portuguese League continued in a 3-1 win over Belenenses and increased his tally this season in all competitions to 31 goals.
The odds may pile up against Benfica ahead of Tuesday's clash, but they can hold a distinct honor as only one of two teams have beaten Liverpool by at least two goals in a European knockout tie at Anfield - winning 2-0 in the last game. -16 in 2005-06.
So far Benfica have won just two of their last 12 away games in the Champions League including qualifiers. However, interestingly they have managed to keep five clean sheets in six games in the same competition this season.
The winner of City's match against Atletico will meet Real Madrid, who eliminated Chelsea, in the semifinals. Meanwhile, who got tickets to the semifinals from Liverpool and Benfica will meet Villarreal who prevent the move of the Bundesliga giants, Bayern Munich.
The following is the schedule for the Champions League Thursday, April 14, 2022 at 02.00 WIB:
Atletico Madrid vs Man City
Liverpool vs Benfica