23/01/2018: From The Desk of La Liga Steemit
Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid predictions for this Tuesday’s Copa del Rey Quarter-Final 2nd Leg as Diego Simeone’s side try to overturn a 1st Leg deficit.
The Copa del Rey Quarter Final draw threw up the potential for all of La Liga’s top four to progress into the Semi-Finals, which would have made for some cracking contests commencing tonight. However Sevilla don’t appear to have read the script and their shock 2-1 win at the Wanda Metropolitano last week leaves them well-placed to secure their passage into the last four.
A sold out Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan should see an entertaining game with both sides going for it in the second leg of this Copa del Rey quarter final
It has been an excellent week for Sevilla as the Andalusians followed up their first leg victory in this tie with a comfortable 3-0 win at Espanyol in La Liga at the weekend.
Vincenzo Montella's side became the first Spanish team to win a game at Atletico's new Wanda Metropolitano stadium and that 2-1 first leg success puts them in a strong position to make the semi finals of the Copa del Rey.
Atleti, meanwhile, had another disappointing result on Saturday in La Liga - drawing 1-1 at home to league debutants Girona - and Diego Simeone's side head to the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan with a point to prove.
The visitors come into this following another setback as they dropped points at home to minnows Girona in La Liga on Saturday. For once Diego Simeone looked to have made a poor call by switching to a back three and leaving the likes of Koke, Juanfran and Gabi out, only to see his side squander vital points just when it looked like they might be able to sneak their way back into the title race.
Team news
Montella fielded the same starting eleven against Espanyol as he had at the Wanda Metropolitano, but the manager is unlikely to name an unchanged team for the third game in six days.
Diego Simeone, for his part, took off Diego Costa and Antoine Griezmann in the second half against Girona with one eye on this match, so both are likely to start in another strong looking Atletico eleven.
Chances likely at both ends at the Sanchez Pizjuan
Sevilla have only lost once at home since going down 3-1 to Juventus in November 2016.
They’ve won 10 of their last 11 at home in the Copa del Rey.
Atleti have only won 4 of their last 11 away in the Copa del Rey, with 3 of those wins against lower league opponents.
Sevilla won the 1st Leg 2-1 in Madrid last week. They’ve only won 1 of their last 6 home games against Atleti, although that was last season, 1-0 in La Liga.
Image Source: dailymail.co.uk
Sevilla are a side that can generally be relied upon for goals, especially at home, but they do concede a lot of chances; indeed, against Espanyol they kept a clean sheet but only because of some extremely wasteful finishing from their opponents.
Their last clean sheet at home was against Levante, who are one of the poorest sides in the division but still managed to have nine shots on goal during the match and Atletico will fancy their chances of scoring.
Of course, Simeone's side need to net twice on Tuesday to have any chance of progressing and that need for goals should lead them to approaching the game in a more open way than usual.