Who: Atletico Madrid vs Manchester United What: UEFA Champions League, matchday 2 Where: Estadio Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain When: Tuesday, October 13, at 9pm (19:00 GMT) How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the build-up and live updates from 16:00 GMT.
Action in Europe’s premier club competition returns with a matchday two clash between in-form La Liga side Atletico Madrid and Premier League strugglers Manchester United.
There are contrasting moods in the camps ahead of Tuesday’s fixture in the Spanish capital.
Atletico are challenging Barcelona for the top spot in Spain’s top flight, while Man United are in the bottom half of England’s Premier League, several places below all their traditional rivals.
Left winger Alex Baena and striker Jonathan David have been running the show for Atletico, while playmaker Bruno Fernandes and marksman Bryan Mbeumo are trying to keep United’s hopes alive of turning things around.
Atletico and Man United are set to clash for only the fifth time in history and the third in the Champions League.
Here’s all you need to know about the match:
Atletico have made a promising start to the 2026-27 La Liga season, as they sit in second place, five points adrift of leaders and title holders, Barcelona.
Of the eight league games they have played, Atletico have won six, drawn one and lost one.
One of those results included a feisty 2-1 derby win over giants Real Madrid.
United are experiencing one of their worst starts to a league campaign.
They are 12th in the Premier League standings with six points, having won only one of six matches (D3 L2).
Those defeats also include a controversial 1-0 loss to their bitter rivals, Manchester City.
Atletico suffered a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in their first UCL match of the season, while Man United thrashed Azerbaijani club Sabah 4-0 in their campaign opener.
That keeps Atletico 25th and Man United fourth in the league phase of this year’s Champions League.
The top eight teams at the end of the league phase qualify directly to the knockout rounds.
Opta’s supercomputer has given Atletico a 48.5 percent probability of victory, while Man United have a 27.2 percent chance and a draw is estimated at a likelihood of 24.3 percent.
Encounters:
(Last five matches across all competitions, latest match first)
Atletico Madrid: W-W-W-W-L
Manchester United: D-D-L-L-W
Alex Baena and Jonathan David (Atletico): Baena is in good form for club and country, with four goals and two assists for Atletico this season. Further up the pitch, centre-forward David has three goals and two assists.
Bruno Fernandes and Bryan Mbeumo (Man United): Midfielder Fernandes, the United captain, has been the team’s top scorer with four goals in all competitions, while the playmaker also has an assist. Forward Mbeumo, meanwhile, has three goals and an assist.
Diego Simeone (Atletico):
On Julian Alvarez failing to find the net so far this season: “I think strikers with Julian’s characteristics always need goals, not just him. It’s true that beyond his finishing, he’s a team player, a player that can link very well, he can assist and he’s got many more tools than just goalscoring.”
On facing Man United: “The game will be long, it will be tough and we have to manage our efforts to compete well.”
Michael Carrick (Man United):
On United’s poor form: “We’ve got to stay positive and keep doing the right things. We need to do better and we need more points, of course we do.”
On facing Atletico: “We’ve got big games coming up and are looking forward to Tuesday now. A fresh start, a fresh game and we will go there looking forward to the game.”
Atletico have a fully fit squad.
Predicted starting XI:
Jan Oblak; Marc Pubill, Cristian Romero, David Hancko; Marcos Llorente, Pablo Barrios, Koke, Giuliano Simeone; Kang-in Lee, Alex Baena; Julian Alvarez
As many as five United players are out with injuries. Those include Patrick Dorgu (hamstring), Benjamin Sesko (shin), Tom Heaton (abdomen), Manuel Ugarte (knee) and Matthijs de Ligt (back).
Predicted starting XI:
Senne Lammens; Noussair Mazraoui, Leny Yoro, Lisandro Martinez, Diogo Dalot; Youri Tielemans, Kobbie Mainoo; Bryan Mbeumo, Bruno Fernandes, Matheus Cunha; Marcus Rashford
Extracted and lightly reformatted for readability. · Source: pt