Madrid with reaction after defeat in the top flight?
Atletico Madrid welcome Girona on matchday 8 in La Liga. The home side suffered a painful home defeat to Real Madrid on the penultimate matchday.
However, they put the defeat behind them well: The following day, they won again at Sevilla. The visitors, for their part, have suffered two defeats recently and remain stuck in the lower midfield.
In the match at the Wanda Metropolitano between Atletico Madrid and Girona, the forecast is for a home win without conceding a goal.
Atletico Madrid – Statistics & current form
The capitals last won to nil at Sevilla. A clean sheet was previously not achieved over five competitive games. The fact that it has now been achieved once again can be explained by the improved personnel situation in Madrid’s back line.
In the match in Andalusia, two experienced defensive players, Stefan Savic from Montenegro and Jose Maria Gimenez from Uruguay, returned to coach Diego Simeone’s squad. As a result, the home side are now in a much better defensive position again.
Morata still capable of scoring
The “Colchoneros” can also continue to rely on Alvaro Morata in the offensive. The striker, who was brought back from Juve, has already scored four goals in his seven league appearances.
It is mainly thanks to his efficiency that the home side’s attack has been successful – only the top three teams at the top of the table, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao, have scored more goals.
Will the home side at least score twice?
With Atletico Madrid facing a vulnerable defence, betting on the home side to score more than one goal in the clash between Atletico Madrid and Girona is an interesting proposition. The odds on a win for the red and white team, including an interval lead, are also interesting.
The “Indios”, however, cannot rely on a pronounced home strength so far. On the contrary, the ten-time Copa del Rey winners have lost two of their last three home matches and only managed a three-goal win against Celta Vigo.
In the top flight things are still not going well
The hosts also suffered a defeat in the Champions League this week against Brugge.
With two recent defeats, Atletico continue to be weak in this competition, although at least a draw in their latest outing in Flanders would have been deserved from an objective point of view.
Predicted line-up of Atletico Madrid:
Oblak – Savic – Gimenez – Mandava – Molina – Witsel – Koke – Llorente – Niguez – Matheus Cunha – Morata
Last matches played by Atletico Madrid:
Champions League Grp. B
05/10/2022 – Club Brugge 2 – 0 Atletico Madrid
La Liga
01/10/2022 – Sevilla FC 0 – 2 Atletico Madrid
19/09/2022 – Atletico Madrid 1 – 2 Real Madrid
Champions League Grp. B
14/09/2022 – Bayer Leverkusen 2 – 0 Atletico Madrid
La Liga
11/09/2022 – Atletico Madrid 4 – 1 Celta Vigo
Girona – Statistics & current form
The Catalans are in the top flight for the second time in their history. Recently, however, the form showed a clear downward trend. On the penultimate matchday, the visitors suffered a defeat at Betis Sevilla, followed by a loss to Real Sociedad.
Especially the latter home defeat against the Basques revealed serious defensive problems. In the end, the promoted team was defeated 3:5.
The difficulties in preventing goals are also not a new pattern: Coach Michel’s team has not yet recorded a single clean sheet after seven rounds of matches.
Girona are weak away from home
The kickers from the Estadi Municipal de Montilivi are also welcome guests. In their three away games, the “Blanquivermells” have not yet recorded a win. Instead, they have suffered two defeats against Betis Sevilla and Valencia and a draw in Mallorca.
On the offensive side, the visitors will again be hoping for Cristhian Stuani to return to the squad. The striker has been missing recently due to injury, but was at least back on the bench for the last league match against Real Sociedad.
The oldie continues to be of enormous importance for the attack. The 35-year-old scored no less than 22 goals in the last promotion season, which, together with Baston of Ovieda, secured him the top scorer’s crown in the Spanish lower division after the regular season.
Stuani has been the sole entertainer in the visitors’ attack for some time now
It was also his fifth season at Girona with at least a double-digit goal haul and in total he has recorded no fewer than 105 league goals in this flashback. Figures that quickly make it clear how dependent the visitors are on him in attack.
This season, that dependency is not diminishing, as Argentine Nahuel Lautaro Bustos, Girona’s second-best scorer last season and the only other player with a double-digit goal tally, left for Sao Paulo in the Brazilian Serie A last summer.
Predicted line-up of Girona:
Juan Carlos – Bueno – Bernardo – Juanpe – Martinez – Gutierrez – Riquelme – Garcia – Romeu – Vallejo – Castellanos
Last matches played by Girona:
La Liga
02/10/2022 – Girona 3 – 5 Real Sociedad
18/09/2022 – Real Betis 2 – 1 Girona
10/09/2022 – Girona 2 – 1 Real Valladolid
03/09/2022 – Mallorca 1 – 1 Girona
27/08/2022 – Girona 0 – 1 Celta Vigo
Atletico Madrid – Girona Direct comparison / H2H record
The last direct duel went down in April 2019. At that time, the Colchoneros prevailed against the “Gironistes” with 2-0 on their own ground.
Looking back over the past five years, it was the only success for the eleven-time champions of Spain in this pairing, as the previous five comparisons always ended in a draw. Moreover, the draws always came with goals on both sides.
Atletico Madrid – Girona Tip
Atletico have a physical disadvantage, as the home side have already been challenged in the Champions League this week, but due to the improved personnel situation in the defence, the Simeone eleven must now be rated stronger again.
The forecast for the clash between Atletico Madrid and Girona therefore includes a home win to nil. This is also supported by the fact that the visitors have lost two games recently.
The newcomers are also weak away from home and the visitors’ best goal scorer in the person of Stuani is about to make his comeback, but it is to be expected that he will only be considered for a short stint after his injury break.
