Atletico started the season very solidly. Diego Simeone’s team are currently in second place in the Spanish Championship. From the leader in the person of Real Sociedad, the “mattress” lagged behind by only three points, while playing two matches less than the Basques. Real Madrid is three points behind, being on the fourth place and a point less than Villarreal third. The mattress makers were already nine points ahead of Barcelona. They managed to create such a handicap due to their victory in a face-to-face meeting in the last round. Having shown great football, Atletico scored one single goal through efforts of Yannick Carrasco, which eventually was enough for a minimal victory, which became the fifth in a row for the team in the national championship. In the Champions League the situation is quite resolvable. After three rounds Atletico takes second place in the group with four points, losing five points to the leader of Bayern. The victory over Lokomotiv, which has two points less, practically guarantees the mattress players a ticket to the playoffs and this is what they will certainly strive for.
Champion of Ukraine started his performance at the current group stage of the Champions League just gorgeous. Shakhtar were initially assigned to the number of fighters for a maximum of the third line in the standings, but so far they have managed to refute this assumption. Already in the opening round, the team of Luis Castro knocked out Real Madrid and at the same time pleased bookmakers, because odds for the Pitmen’s victory were 15.90! Then there was a match with Inter. Shakhtar are underdog again, their victory is quoted at 7.00, but they are gaining points again, signing the world match with a score of 0:0. Well, then there was a notorious match with Borussia M?nchengladbach and a knockdown with a score 0:6. In the upcoming match the Pitmen give an average of 6.50, so there is reason to think… On the whole, this season Shakhtar’s problematic link is defense. This applies to both international matches and domestic competitions, especially on the road. So, in seven of the last nine official away matches Castro’s wards conceded at least two goals per game. The staffing situation at Shakhtar is now almost stabilized. Viktor Kovalenko (coronavirus), Viktor Kornienko (injury) and Ismaily (injury) remain in the infirmary. More scientific soccer prediction can be obtained from the link provided.
