The European soccer season’s annual curtain raiser is upon us as the 2023/24 Champions League winners Real Madrid take on the 2023/24 Europa League winners Atalanta in Warsaw, Poland.
The Spanish outfit will look to become the first team to win this trophy six times, moving ahead of Barcelona and AC Milan, while the Serie A side will compete in the final for the first time in their history.
We’ll take a look at the two teams and break down the fixture, before providing you with our best free soccer betting picks to try and earn you some extra cash while you take in the action on the pitch.
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The reigning kings of Europe and Spain come into this game as favorites, having secured their 15th Champions League crown last season with a 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in the final at Wembley Stadium.
Since the end of the season, manager Carlo Ancelotti has strengthened his attack even further with the addition of arguably the best player in the world, Kylian Mbappe, on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain, while the deal for Brazilian phenom Endrick has finally gone through after he turned 18.
They have however lost legendary midfielder Toni Kroos, who retired from the sport after Euro 2024 with Germany, while defender David Alaba has suffered a setback after injury and is likely to miss much of the rest of the calendar year.
On the other hand they’ll be coming up against a very exciting Italian side, fresh off their most successful campaign in Europe and with summer additions to boot.
Gian Piero Gasperini has added Ben Godfrey, Ibrahim Sulemana and Nicolo Zaniolo to his squad to bolster options in all areas of the side, while Charles De Ketelaere’s loan move from Milan has been made permanent too.
All of Duvan Zapata, Nicolo Cambiaghi, Aleksey Miranchuk and Caleb Okoli have left the club during the summer transfer window though, and the team suffered a huge blow in pre-season when star striker Gianluca Scamacca suffered a torn ACL during a friendly and is now set to miss between six and nine months of the campaign.
Atalanta come into the game as major underdogs but it’s a position they’re used to, having claimed their Europa League success last season by becoming the only team to beat Bayer Leverkusen in any competition to deny them an invincible treble.
To slightly alter a famous phrase once stated by Gary Lineker, soccer is an easy game. 22 men chase a ball around for 90 minutes and at the end, Real Madrid win.
That’s generally how these things go, and it’s hard to look at the two teams here and not think that this match probably goes the same way. Pre-season has gone relatively well for the Spanish league champions, and they have made their squad stronger in the process too.
Mbappe is yet to feature in pre-season, as are Aurelien Tchouameni, Fede Valverde, Edouardo Camavinga, Dani Carvajal and Jude Bellingham which means they could start relatively slowly in the game or even start the game on the bench, but the strength of the squad is such that it still shouldn’t make too much of a difference.
With an incredibly strong attacking unit with the likes of Arda Guler, Brahim Diaz and Rodrygo ready to step in they should have enough firepower to put a less than 100% Atalanta to the sword.
Defensively the team still looks strong with Eder Militao and Thibaut Courtois fit again after serious knee injuries kept them out of the majority of last season, so expect a relatively routine victory in a slow-paced fixture to give the European kings yet another trophy for their cabinet.
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There has been a lot of talk over the summer transfer window about how Real Madrid will adapt their team to fit Mbappe into the team that just had so much success.
The French star comes in as one of the best in the world, but there is already a player in Vinicius Jr who has a claim to that title too and he will want to prove that not only can they work together but that he is still the main man in the team.
The Brazilian struggled during Copa America for his nation in the summer, but is still regarded by many as the favorite to win the prestigious Ballon d’Or and will want to kickstart the season to ensure that he isn’t the forgotten man after such a busy summer transfer window.
It remains to be seen how Ancelotti will set the team up to fit everyone in, but the man who dons the iconic number seven shirt for Los Blancos will no doubt be a key to the system.
Having taken part in pre-season too, he will be sharp heading into this game and his tendency to score in the big games means backing him to find the back of the net and start the new season the same way he ended the last one looks like a great value pick.
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About the Author
Daniel is a football writer who has a great thirst for the Premier League and other major European leagues. A lover of the beautiful game and a firm believer that the eye test is better than statistics. Also an avid MMA fan.
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