Lokomotiv Moscow vs Atletico Madrid Match Preview

In the previous round, Lokomotiv played well against the UCL Champions, Bayern Munich, but unfortunately for them, their superior opponents prevailed on the pitch and they faced a 1-2 home defeat. They found themselves back in the scoreline early in the game, but they kept creating chances and managed deservedly to equalize at the 69th minute of the game. In fact, a couple of minutes before Bayern scoring the winner, Lokomotiv missed a big opportunity and could have scored their second goal.

In the domestic league, Lokomotiv Moscow suffered the 2nd defeat in a row, this time against Sochi by 2-1 on the road. After this result, they are sitting 7 points away from 1st place in the standings.

Defender S. Magkeev as well as midfielder D. Barinov remain both injured and will miss tonight's game. The injury list of M. Nikolic extended further, one of his key players, defender V. Corluka, is the most recent addition after the previous round of UEFA Champions League. 

Atletico Madrid faced Salzburg in the previous round of the UCL and won by 3-2 at home. Despite being back 1-2 in the scoreline at the beginning of the second half, they bounced back scoring two more goals taking all three points. The Portuguese Joao Felix scored these two decisive goals of the match.

In the Spanish La Liga, Atletico prevailed 1-3 over Osasuna on the road, with Joao Felix scoring twice once again, this time the first two goals for his team. After this outcome, Atletico reached a total of 14 points after 6 matches in the league, and they are placed 3 points away from the first-placed Real Sociedad, who have played two games more. 

L. Suarez is back, he stayed out to rest in the last league game. Saul is also available as he recovered from his injury. Unavailable remain the injured Diego Costa, Y. Carrasco, and S. Vrsaljko.

I cannot disagree that Atletico Madrid are the big favorites here, but the offered odds at ridiculously low-priced, at 1.35. I wouldn't pick such low odds in an away match of Atletico, even against weak Hueska or Levante, let alone today's match, a Champions League away match in Russia, where the home advantage is real this time as the 30% capacity of the RZD Arena will be given to home supporters.

The offered odds for Lokomotiv Moscow to win tonight are massive. The home side to win is my call in this one.