Prime News Ghana

UCL: Atletico Madrid vs Juventus, Key battles as Felix meets Ronaldo

By Vincent Ashitey
Shares
facebook sharing button Share
twitter sharing button Tweet
email sharing button Email
sharethis sharing button Share

Atletico Madrid welcomes Juventus to the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in their 2019/20 Champions League Group D opener tonight.

The two sides met in the round of 16 last season and it was Juventus who progressed to the next stage on a 3-2 aggregate after losing the first leg 2-0.

Below are some key battles we look forward to

Simeone vs Sarri

As the players will be doing the job on the field, it is their managers' ideas that they will be implementing to see them come up top today.

Simeone whose side have always kept it tight in games will not be far from his philosophy tonight as he will try to reduce the threat Ronaldo and the likes possess to his outfit. He managed to do that last season when the two sides meet with Atletico Madrid winning 2-0 in the first leg.

However, Maurizio Sarri is the new manager for Juventus and comes with a different philosophy. Juventus have had a bumpy ride to season and coming into tonight's clash, all do not know the king of Old ladies with turn up as his Sarri-football is yet to be seen.

Felix vs Ronaldo

Felix became the third most expensive footballer and the most expensive teenager of all time after swapping Benfica for the Spanish capital, commanding a transfer fee of €126 million (£112m/$140m).

He has hit the ground running since joining the Los Rojiblancos. But in games like the Champions like is where his outfit will be looking at him to show his potential.

Coming up against his Portuguese compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo who is the all-time scorer in the Champions League with 126 goals and trying to upstage on nights like this will be a thing battle he will relish.

Diego Costa vs Leonardo Bonucci

Atletico will hope that their striker Diego can inspire them to a good result against Juventus to help them start their European campaign on a good note. The Spaniard is yet to open his account for the season and Simeone will hope that he breaks his luck against Juventus.

Juventus will be missing the services of their skipper Chiellini due injury, meaning Bonucci will be tasked with the responsibility of keeper Costa at bane.

Â