Atlético Madrid – Club Brugge – The dream goes on for the Belgians:

As of the end of matchday 3, the Belgian team is leading Group B with 9 points and three victories. In the last game, Atlético Madrid lost on the road.

The Belgians won 2-0 last week at home, and now they travel to the Spanish capital to try to confirm their qualification to the knockout stage two rounds before the end of the group stage.

If Brugge wins the game, they’re qualified for the Round of 16. If they collect one point, and in case there is a winner in the game between  Bayer Leverkusen and FC Porto, which will happen in Germany, then they’re also qualified for the knockout phase.

The scenario is favorable to the Belgians considering their winning streak as well as the classification table.

Few would believe that by the end of the third round, Club Brugge would be leading Group B with 6 points clear, and six points more than all other teams in a group that also has Atlético Madrid, Bayern Leverkusen, and FC Porto. Especially considering that the Belgians are just 3rd in their domestic league, well-behind Antwerp and Genk.

Atlético Madrid – Club Brugge: 1×2 Betting Preview

Even if Club Brugge is doing very well, and they have won the last game against the Spanish side, we have some factors that must be considered. There’s a good chance we’ll see a winner in the other game of Group B in the coming midweek, which means a draw could suffice to confirm the qualification of the Belgians.

Moreover, Atlético Madrid won its only game so far at home against FC Porto in the first round of Group B.

The Spanish side will be desperate for points, which means the strategy of Club Brugge may include considering a draw a good result.

The current odds for the 1×2 market are as follows:

Victory of Atlético Madrid: 1.45

Match Draw: 4.63

Victory of Club Brugge: 7.66

Considering the winning streak and great morale of the Belgian team right now, the odds seem a bit too favorable to Atlético Madrid in my opinion. The ‘1’ selection should have odds in the house of 1.75 to 2.

The match draw odds also seem interesting considering that it suits the needs of the leaders of the group that managed to beat all 3 adversaries of this group so far.

Atlético Madrid – Club Brugge: Asian Handicap betting preview

Lines have stabilized around -1.25 Atlético Madrid / +1.25 Club Brugge. I don’t see why a team that lost by a difference of 2 goals would attack enough to win by more than one and risk losing the points if they ever manage to be ahead in the score. Especially when the manager is so prone to defending like Simeone.

Club Brugge +1.25 @ 1.84 or even +1 @ 2.17 looks interesting right now.

Over/under goals: betting preview for Atl. Madrid – Brugge

Simeone is a coach that always makes his teams defend when necessary, without any sort of shame in an era when attacking seems to be considered the ‘ethical thing to do’ in the world of soccer, something I tend to consider a bit exaggerated, personally.

The Spanish team simply needs to collect points desperately right now. And Brugge will only really benefit if they bring points to Belgium. We may see more goals than usual for a game involving Atlético Madrid here. The Over/under odds stabilized between 2.5 and 2.75 in the AH market. Right now Over 2.5 is trading at 1.84 on average.

In my opinion, there seems to be more value in the match result handicap market right now than the O/U scenario, but this may change in the live betting market.