Manchester City vs. Atletico Madrid Preview, Odds, Predictions, Picks

Manchester City and Atletico Madrid play a club-friendly game in Seoul at the World Cup stadium. The two powerhouses are already in Korea for some time, having other matches prior to this one. Atletico met with the K-League Stars, while City had a clash against Bayern Munich. Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone know one another very well, and there won’t be any secrets between these two guys. With the respective domestic seasons nearing, both teams will go out and make final preparations, meaning there will be no combined lineups.

Manchester City (-195) played well against Bayern Munich, and it seemed as if Guardiola’s boys didn’t use more than 75% of their power. De Bruyne wasn’t in the protocol, Haaland didn’t start the game, yet the Citizens were very dangerous. The defense was a bit sleepy initially, but as time went by, all that changed. 

As stated earlier, a 2-1 win was fought without problems, but that’s nothing odd for Man City, who has been the best team in Europe for the past few years. After 5-3 against Yokohama Marinos, their streak of efficient events continued, which also needs to be noted. 

In seven days’ time, this team will open the season in England against Arsenal in the Community Shield. Knowing Guardiola, he will already start to prepare for that clash and send the best possible team on the field against Atletico.

Atletico Madrid (+520) didn’t perform well against K-League Stars, losing 2-3. Though, it was an exhibition game in which both teams focused more on the offense, trying to bring some fun to the fans. However, we must point out that Atletico’s style of play isn’t much different than the one against the Korean rivals.

Over the past year, the Mattress Makers have made a huge transition in their strategy and tactics, and from a team that had arguably the best defense in Europe, they started producing high-scoring games. Simeone brought plenty of new players, replacing the old generation with some new faces, and with that came the switch in the mentality. 

Now, it’s not odd to see five or more goals when Atletico plays, which we couldn’t imagine several years ago. We will see if Simeone manages to provide notable results with this new approach. 

De Bruyne won’t be in the lineup for this one, as the Belgian still recovers from his nasty hamstring injury. 

On the other side, Simeone should have all his top players at his disposal.

Head to Head Games

Atletico and City met in the 2022 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. City posted a minimal win at home, 1-0, and after that, kept Atletico’s pressure in Madrid, with that event ending 0-0. 

Prediction

The previous results indicate this should be a very efficient matchup. Both teams emphasize offense, which brings plenty of goals. This one should end with at least three on both ends, which is currently priced at +110. Atletico has the power to strike at least once during 90 minutes, even though the bookies doubt that, we don’t. In our opinion, the suggested pick has a massive value and needs to be tried. 

Pick: Over 2.5 goals and both teams to score +110