On Wednesday, 13 December, Atletico will play against Lazio in the Champions League group stage. Both teams have already qualified for the play-offs, but first place is at stake. An important factor for the draw.

Atletico are having a great season. The club is a real contender for the La Liga title. In the Champions League they managed to close last year's failure. Atletico avoided defeat in the group stage, although there were a few agonising matches. In particular, the Spaniards stumbled in Scotland, but then scored nine goals against Celtic and Feyenoord. Atletico's attack is the revelation of this season.

The link-up of Griezmann and Morata looks to be one of the most dangerous in the current European season. The Frenchman is marked by productive actions in almost every match. At the moment, the footballer is the second scorer of La Liga. In the last meeting with Almeria, the tandem again said its weighty word: Griezmann made an away pass, and Morata scored. With six matches to go, Atletico now have five wins. The only defeat came against Barcelona away.

Lazio went through a period of turbulence at the beginning of the season. The club suffered badly in the first rounds. There was serious talk about the imminent sacking of Maurizio Sarri, but the coach brought the club out of the doldrums. Now we can talk about cautious movement forward. In the championship the club is only tenth, but in the Champions League they managed to reach the play-offs with a huge margin. Three wins have been recorded in the last four matches. The main striker Immobile has got out of his personal crisis.

At the moment, Lazio's main problem is the lack of a player capable of replacing Milinkovic-Savic. No equal replacement for him has been acquired. At the same time, there is a core of players formed by the coach. Among the injuries, the loss of defenders Patrick and Romagnoli stands out, but in recent matches the defence has been performing at a high level.

Atletico have a favourable injury situation: Barrios, Lemar and Perez cannot play. Far from the most important players.

Madrid do not see a productive plot. It is important that the hosts will be satisfied with a draw. Lazio objectively do not have the resource to play to win, despite the positive dynamics. The club is now more focused on fixing the situation in Serie A. Atletico can agree to a peaceful outcome, and even if they score first, they are unlikely to give their all to develop an advantage. The match should not be very intense. It is logical to assume the absence of a rout, although bookmakers give quite high odds on the guests.