Chelsea will face their biggest test of the season to date when they travel to Spain to face up to Atletico Madrid in the Wanda Metropolitano in round two of the Champions League group-stage.
Antonio Conte’s side have recovered nicely since their opening day defeat to Burnley, going five Premier League games unbeaten, and they eased past minnows Qarabag FK in their first European outing.
However, Atletico Madrid will prove to be a whole new proposition on Wednesday evening as the La Liga giants are yet to taste defeat this year, and they held Roma to a creditable away draw last time out.
One man who will arrive at Atletico’s new stadium with a point to prove is Chelsea’s £60 million summer signing Alvaro Morata, who will return to Spain for the first time since leaving Real Madrid.
He perhaps shouldn’t expect the warmest of welcomes from the home support considering his previous ties to their fierce rivals, but he will take to the field on Wednesday night in fine goal-scoring form and will no doubt look to silence the crowd and make a statement, inspiring his side to a win.
His magnificent hat-trick against Stoke City at the weekend compounded his fruitful start to life in England, with the Spain international now scoring six goals and assisting twice in just eight matches.
The man that will be tasked with keeping him at arms length will be the relatively unknown Montenegro international Stefan Savic, who has started the La Liga season in disciplined fashion.
Whilst many have seen Diego Godin as the heartbeat of the current Atletico side for the past few years Savic has stepped up to the plate over the past 18 months and truly made a name for himself.
He has heavily impressed so far this season in La Liga, leading his side to clean sheets against Valencia and high-flying Sevilla, and his partnership with the Argentinian has grown a real sense of discipline.
Diego Simeone notoriously sets his sides up as hard to beat and Chelsea could find it tough to find any sort of gap in their back-line, with Wednesday having all the marks of being a frustrating night.
Despite his excellent start in the Premier League Morata doesn’t hold the most clinical record in front of goal against his old foes either, failing to score in each of his six appearances against them.
There are a lot of emotional factors that’ll be affecting Morata, not least the return to the town where he was born, and he’s likely to have this barren record against the hosts playing on his mind.
The fact that Savic goes slightly under the radar in comparison to the likes of Sergio Ramos, Giorgio Chiellini and the rest of Europe’s elite defenders makes him an excellent – and under-rated – Draft Fantasy pick, and although Atletico will be tasked with keeping a rampant Chelsea side out, they are a very well-drilled team.
The 26-year-old was part of the side that put in a superb rear-guard display to earn a point away from home at Roma in the first round of fixtures, making four clearances and two last-ditch blocks.
With the home crowd of their brand new stadium getting behind them, making it hostile for Chelsea, it is hard to see past Atletico Madrid continuing their fine recent form with a clean sheet.
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