Chelsea vs Atlético Madrid Prediction - Will The Colchoneros Be Able To Unmount Chelsea's Defensive Wall?

Next Wednesday, José Mourinho’s Chelsea will take on the mighty Atlético Madrid at Stamford Bridge for the semi-finals second leg of the UEFA Champions League on what will certainly be another close match between two hard-working sides that want to grant their presence at this season’s competition final.

After being completely dominated by Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid, Chelsea managed to end the match with a clean sheet and postponed the decision of the round to Stamford Bridge. Next Wednesday’s match will certainly reveal a different Chelsea, however. The Blues have the opportunity to grab a place in the Lisbon final playing in front of their supporters and replicate, for example, their vintage display against PSG on the previous round of the competition.

José Mourinho will certainly apply some changes to the team in comparison with last week’s match. The Brazilian playmaker Oscar will certainly substitute the suspended Frank Lampard in the midfield triangle, giving the team more depth and creativity in their attacking movements, while Hazard, Willian and Torres will probably compose the front trio of a Chelsea side that will certainly look for an early goal, thus forcing Atlético to a more attacking unbalanced game.

For next Wednesday’s match, José Mourinho will not be able to count on the Czech international goalkeeper Petr Cech, John Terry and Samuel Eto’o, due to injury, while Frank Lampard and John Obi Mikel will also miss the match, since they are suspended.

As for Atlético, there must certainly be some frustration because of last week’s match at Vicente Calderón, where the Colchoneros failed to defuse Chelsea’s defensive labyrinth and ended the match with nothing better than a draw.

Atlético dominated almost all the aspects of the match, with 62% of ball possession and with 26 goal attempts; nevertheless, the team failed to score and they will be forced to create something special at Stamford Bridge next Wednesday if they want to claim their place in the Lisbon final.

Anyway, Atlético Madrid are still the only undefeated team at the UEFA Champions League and, despite playing at home, it will surely not be easy for Chelsea to defeat a hard working and organized side such as the Colchoneros. Diego Simeone perfectly mixes Italian cynicism and Argentinean magic into a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 versatile scheme that can either play on continuous attacking play or can look for the opponents’ mistakes like a hound dog, sentencing the match with quick and lethal counter-attacks.

For the clash at Stamford Bridge, Diego “El Cholo” Simeone, will not be able to count on the experienced Spanish midfielder and team’s captain Gabi, who is suspended, while he is not yet certain if Arda Turan will be fully fit in time for the match because of a recent injury that has been taunting him.

After last week’s goalless draw, next Wednesday’s match at Stamford bridge will be another intense match that could go either way. Chelsea’s experience in the competition might be of good use to them but, on an overall analysis, Atlético look to be a more consistent and organized team and have all the chances to obtain a victory as visitors next Wednesday.

Chelsea

Stats: W-5 L2- D-2
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Atlético Madrid

Stats: W-6 L-0 D-3
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Possible Line-ups

Chelsea (4-3-3) – Schwarzer  - Azpilicueta - Cahill - Ivanovic - Cole - David Luiz - Ramires - Oscar - Hazard - Willian - Torres

Atlético Madrid (4-4-1-1) – Courtois - Juanfran - Miranda - Godín - Filipe Luis - Tiago - Mario Suárez - Koke - Raúl Garcia - Diego - Diego Costa

Prediction: Chelsea 1 Atlético Madrid 1