Villarreal vs Atletico Madrid Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 Spanish Primera
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The first round of La Liga fixtures finishes with a brilliant and intriguing match-up as Villarreal welcome the big spending Atletico Madrid, who will be expecting to challenge the two Clasico giants Barcelona and Real Madrid for the Spanish title this season.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Monday 19th August, 2024 - UK – 6:00pm / US ET – 1:00pm / US PT – 10:00am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so Villarreal vs Atletico Madrid may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN+
VILLARREAL PREVIEW: LOOKING FOR STABILITY
After the departure of Unai Emery in November 2022, Villarreal have been wobbling ever since and last season saw them move onto a third coach by the November international break but that third coach now remains in charge. Marcelino has enjoyed an excellent career thus far and he will be expecting to continue that with Villarreal this season.
After spending a lot of last season fighting against falling into a relegation battle, the Yellow Submarine eventually moved into eighth position and their ambitions will be to get back into UEFA competition this season. They have made some interesting signings such as Willy Kambwala, Nicolas Pepe and Ayoze Perez.
ATLETICO MADRID PREVIEW: THE EVOLUTION OF ATLETI
‘Cholismo’ is the style of football named after the nickname of Diego Simeone but the former Argentina international appeared to have relaxed his very intense, defensive methods last season with Los Rojiblancos’ 38 La Liga matches consisting of 113 goals. That may be even higher this time around.
Amidst the current Conor Gallagher saga, Atletico have still been able to complete some very impressive signings this summer. Robin Le Normand, who was a key man as Spain won UEFA EURO 2024, has been brought in from Real Sociedad with Alexander Sorloth also joining after an impressive campaign with Villarreal last year. The star arrival, though, is Julian Alvarez.
VILLARREAL TEAM NEWS: NO INJURIES FOR VILLARREAL
Marcelino is able to name an eleven from a fully fit and available squad this weekend with no injuries. It will be intriguing to see whether Nicolas Pepe comes straight into the eleven.
Marcelino often prefers a narrow 4-4-2, which has been typical of many Spanish coaches over the last decade including his opposite number on the opening day, Diego Simeone.
PREDICTED XI (4-4-2): Diego Conde; Foyth, Raul Albiol, Bailly, Alfonso Pedraza; Alex Baena, Dani Parejo, Santi Comesana, Yeremy Pino; Gerard Moreno, Ayoze Perez
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ATLETICO MADRID TEAM NEWS: FULL STRENGTH ATLETICO
Julian Alvarez has been away at both the CONMEBOL Copa America, which he helped Argentina win, as well as the Summer Olympics in Paris so it will be unclear as to whether he is available to play from the start.
Alexander Sorloth very nearly won La Liga’s golden boot award last season when at Villarreal last season and the Norwegian will be hoping to hurt his former team on debut.
PREDICTED XI (3-4-1-2): Oblak; Jose Maria Gimenez, Witsel, Le Normand; Nahuel Molina, De Paul, Pablo Barrios, Reinildo; Griezmann; Julian Alvarez, Sorloth
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VILLARREAL VS ATLETICO MADRID PREDICTION
Villarreal and Atletico Madrid have played out some really entertaining games for the neutral in recent seasons and there is a sense that this one could once again be along those lines. Villarreal will be a little direct even without Alexander Sorloth at the club anymore and will look to cause what was a leakier Atletico defence problems but the firepower of the new look visitors means they should surely have joy in attack of their own.
VILLARREAL VS ATLETICO MADRID TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
