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Atletico Madrid v Celtic (Match Preview)


Probabilities for the match are - Celtic 10%, the draw 17% and Atletico Madrid 73%.


Atletico were 3rd in La Liga last season 11 points behind Champions Barcelona.


This season they are 4th on 25pts.


They are a Pot 2 team but their ELO ranking of 8 has them 7th out of the 32 teams in the Champions League this season and they are the top ranked team in Celtic's group.


In their latest league game on Saturday against Las Palmas away they lined up with the following;

  • 13 Jan Oblak

  • 15 Stefan Savic, 20 Axel Witsel and 22 Mario Hermoso

  • 16 Nahuel Molina, 5 Rodrigo De Paul, 6 Koke, 24 Pablo Barrios, 25 Rodrigo Riquelme

  • 7 Antoine Griezmann and 19 Alvaro Morata

There were 2 differences in that team to the team that played at Celtic Park with Ruquelme playing instead of Galan at left wing back and Barrios playing instead of Niguez in midfield.


Subs used were wing back Marcos Llorente, Argentinian striker Angel Correa, centre back Jose Gimenez, midfielder Saul Niguez and left back Javi Galan.


Unused subs were 20 year old goalkeeper Antonio Gomis, 18 year old goalkeeper Sergio Mestre, centre back Cesar Azpilicueta and ex-Leicester Turkish centre back Caglar Soyuncu.


  • Slovenian international Oblak is 20th in La Liga for goals prevented conceding 11 goals from an expected 8.1. He's 11th for save percentage at 70.3%.

  • Ex-Man City Montenegro centre back Stefan Savic who has played 274 times for Atletico.

  • Belgian international centre back Witsel has scored 78 goals in his career but none for Atletico Madrid.

  • Left sided centre back Hermoso has scored 8 times in 143 games for Atletico.

  • Right back Nahuel Molina has played 33 times for Argentina.

  • Defensive midfielder Rodrigo De Paul has played 58 times for Argentina.

  • Koke is 5th best in La Liga for accurate passes on 83.6 per 90 and his passing accuracy is 90.8%. He has 70 caps for Spain and 597 appearances for Atletico, scoring 46 goals.

  • 20 year old Barrios has the 3rd most interceptions per 90 in La Ligo at 2.2

  • Left winger Rodrigo Riquelme has been playing left wing back. He has 8 appearances for Spain Under 21's.

  • 32 year old Griezmann is 5th best rated player in the league averaging 7.73. He has 7 goals this season from an xG of 5.0 and a Post Shot xG of 5.4. He has scored 44 goals for France in 125 appearances and he has scored 166 times for Atletico. His 0.71 goals per 90 this season is 12th in the league. He was 8th at the time of the game at Celtic Park.

  • 31 year old Morata has scored 7 times in La Liga this season and is on 0.86 goals per 90 which is 6th. It was 12th at the time of the game at Celtic Park. That is from 4.2 xG and 5.3 Post Shot xG.


Forward Correa has the best xA and xG in the team as he has the 3rd best xA in the league at 0.42 per 90 and 9th best xG at 0.57 per 90. He's top for goals per 90 at 1.07 (3 goals) and he has 0.4 actual assists per 90.


Niguez wasn't in the squad for the Las Palmas game and he has 5 assists in La Liga (joint top) although his xA is only 1.7. He was on loan to Chelsea in the 2021/2022 season.


In their last game against Las Palmas they lost 2-1 with an xG of 1.24, Post Shot xG of 1.02 and xGA of 0.41. Las Palmas winning for 39 minutes of the game.


They had 13 shots to Las Palmas 9. Shot map below (Atletico on the right).


For this season in La Liga Atletico are 4th for xG created (19.2 expected goals and 26 goals) and top for xG conceded with only 9.4 xGA and 11 goals conceded.


Against Celtic the biggest combination of passes for Atletico was Savic to Molina which happened 20 times.





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Tony@CelticTrends.com

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