Atletico Madrid visit Stuttgart in the Champions League after beating Man United

Atletico Madrid travel to VfB Stuttgart this Tuesday at the MHP Arena (21:00) for the third match of the Champions League league phase, coming off their win over Manchester United after losing at Anfield. With momentum at home, their goal in Europe is to pick up points to ease qualification and, depending on results, move towards the top-8.

Missing Cuti

The squad has key absences: Cuti Romero is out with a distension (a muscle pull) and Koke is still recovering from a muscular injury. In defence, Pubill is expected to return to the centre with Hancko, while Marcos Llorente and Grimaldo start as full-backs. Cardoso also comes back after illness kept him from travelling to Barcelona.

Stuttgart lead the group

Stuttgart arrive with a perfect Champions League record: they beat Viking 3-1 and Slovan Bratislava 0-3 last week. Sebastian Hoeness underlined what Atletico represent (“We know what Atletico stands for; it is the maximum expression of club football”). For the Germans, Demirovic—scoring four times in the first two rounds—and Undav are their main attacking threats, with Al-Dakhil, Nartey and Tiago Tomás missing, plus a doubt over Mittelstad.