Unlike their opponents, the Madrid team had significantly more time to prepare for the match. This is because La Liga did not play a round due to the Spanish Cup final being held over the weekend. So, Atletico’s last match was played on April 1 away against Villarreal. That match proved to be quite challenging for Atletico, but they managed to snatch a 2-1 victory thanks to Saul’s goal in the 87th minute. With that win, Atletico managed to rise to fourth place in La Liga, but they have 8 rounds left to play, and their lead over Athletic Bilbao is only 2 points. In the previous round of the Champions League, Atletico only managed to beat Inter in a penalty shootout.
After a sensational victory over Bayern Munich (2-0), Borussia Dortmund played at home against Stuttgart in a special match as the club celebrated the 50th anniversary of their Signal Iduna Park stadium. However, they failed to delight the yellow-and-black fans. Edin Terzic’s team created more than 2 xG chances but failed to score against their opponents. As a result, Borussia Dortmund conceded a goal to Sasa Kalajdzic and suffered a 0-1 defeat. Now Borussia Dortmund is in fifth place in the Bundesliga, trailing RB Leipzig on additional indicators. So, the game against Atletico is particularly important for Borussia, as Germany has a chance to be one of the top two countries in the coefficient table at the end of the season and secure a place in the Champions League for the 5th Bundesliga team. Recall that in the Champions League round of 16, the German vice-champions knocked out PSV.