Champions League focus game preview: Real Madrid expedition to Almaty, Atlanta fights against Bruges and seeks revenge

At 0:45 am on October 1, the second round of the Champions League will usher in two focus battles. Real Madrid soldiers came to Kazakhstan after a long-distance trip of 6,500 kilometers to fight against Champions League new champion Almaty Keilat, and Mbappe has already gone with the team. Serie A powerhouse Atlanta will play at home against Bruges, who eliminated his own in the Champions League knockout playoff last season. However, the team's midfielder De Catrare was absent due to injury and missed the match against his old owner. Atlanta is probably powerless if he wants to take revenge.

Almaty Keirat vs Real Madrid. Almaty Keilat from Kazakhstan is the new team in the Champions League this season. As the champion of the Kazakhstan Super League last season, they have eliminated Ljubljana Olympia from Slovenia, Gubis from Finland, Bratislava from Slovakia and Celtics from Scotland, and have reached the Champions League for the first time in the team's history. Almaty Keilat ranks 275th in the world, with a total value of 12.73 million euros, less than any starting player in Real Madrid. The highest value player in the team is the 17-year-old Kazakh international forward Sartpayev, who has been confirmed to transfer to Chelsea for 2.4 million euros after the end of this season. In the Kazakhstan Super League this season, Almaty Keilat fell behind the top 1 point with one round of less competition and temporarily ranked second.

Real Madrid lost to Atletico Madrid 2-5 away in La Liga last weekend, suffering the first defeat of the season, and the problem of unstable defense broke out in a concentrated manner. The strongest opponent Real Madrid has encountered in seven consecutive games in previous matches was Marseille, who met at home in the Champions League. Even so, he only narrowly won 2-1, so he lost to Atletico Madrid 2-5 away. At first glance, it was unexpected, but it was reasonable to think about it carefully. Although A Fei and Heisen performed well in the first few games, they were still young and were just a big club, so their condition was inevitable. Militon and Carvajal came out one after another in the second half, which eventually led to the collapse of Real Madrid.

Real Madrid will go to Almaty in this round of Champions League. Since they just finished the fierce battle with Atletico Madrid last round, they will face Villarreal in La Liga in four days, and the round trip is more than 13,000 kilometers. Therefore, in Alonso's plan, Real Madrid will play away in the Champions League with most of the substitutes, and substitutes such as Rodrigo, Camavenga, Brahim Dias, Cébalos and Fran Garcia will get the opportunity to start. However, the Madrid derby's defeat still made Alonso dare not take it lightly. Therefore, the absolute main players such as Mbappe, Vinicius and Bellingham also came to Almaty with the team, but whether they will start may not be known until before the game.

Real Madrid and Almaty Keirat have never met before, and the strength of the two sides is very different, so Real Madrid won is no problem.

Atlanta vs. Bruges. Atlanta is also playing at home against Bruges. Atlanta is another strong team that has emerged in Serie A in recent seasons and is also a regular European match in recent seasons. The team's best record is that it won the UEFA Europa League championship in the 2023-2024 season and won 9th place in the Champions League last season, but unfortunately eliminated in the play-off stage of the knockout round. The team that eliminated them is Bruges, the opponent of this round of the Champions League. Atlanta lost to his opponent 2-5 in two rounds and missed the Champions League knockout round.

Atlanta's lineup this season has changed a lot from last season. Coach Gasperini has left the team. The new coach is Yuric, who once coached Turin, Southampton and Roma. Atlanta has signed many new players such as Kelstovic, Odiron, Zalevsky and Suleimanna in the summer window, but last season's top scorer Retge left the team. The team's offensive core Lukemann did not play for 3 minutes until the fourth round of the league. Even so, Atalanta still won 2 wins and 3 draws in the new season of Serie A, including a 1-1 draw with Juventus in the last round. The overall strength has not decreased significantly compared to last season, but it is a fact that the attack power has decreased.

Bruges has performed very well in European competitions in recent seasons. He reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2023-2024, reached the Champions League knockout last season, and has trained stars such as Odiron, Decait Lare, Opunda, Noorang and Ashari. Among them, Opunda currently plays for Juventus, Noorang plays for Naples, Ashari plays for AC Milan, Ashari and Decait Lare are playing for Atlanta, but Decait Lare will miss the match due to injury. The four most eye-catching players in Bruges are the 23-year-old Greek forward Toris, the 24-year-old Nigerian midfielder Onedika, the 20-year-old Serbian midfielder Stankovic Jr. and the 21-year-old Ecuadorian defender Odonjez. Among them, Stankovic Jr. is very likely to return to Inter Milan in the future, and Odonjez is also a new star in the defense that Inter Milan is concerned about.

Atlanta and Bruges faced each other in the Champions League knockout playoffs last season. Bruges beat his opponent 2-1 at home and 3-1 away. Even if he plays away in this round, he is still very likely to return undefeated. It is probably not that easy for Atlanta to take revenge.

Note: The picture comes from the Internet.