Atletico Madrid vs Mallorca Preview: Odds, Tips and Predictions

Diego Simeone’s plan to rotate the squad and leave key players out of the starting XI backfired against Villarreal last time out. Antoine Griezmann, Rodrigo De Paul and Samuel Lino were among the substitutes as Villarreal captain, Gerard Moreno, won and converted a first-half penalty to force Simeone’s hand into making second-half changes to bring the regular starters on.

Lino then scored to rescue a point, "I think we were pretty much in control throughout the game. We played with the right attitude and commitment, aiming to win the game," Simeone explained.

"The first half went quite well. They had the penalty and little more. In the second half we played against a team that defended well, with a lot of players and in an organised manner, waiting to counter-attack because they have a lot of fast players and they take advantage of that speed. "We found an equaliser and we continued to play the way we wanted to, going forward. We had more than one situation where we could have won the game. But it wasn't to be..."

‘Los Colchoneros’ will be desperate to put that performance to bed by claiming maximum points in this encounter before making their way to possibly the match of the season in La Liga next Saturday (vs Real Madrid).

Atletico Madrid was in pole position just a few weeks ago, surrendering first position following a pair of unforeseeable upsets suffering defeat away at Leganes (1-0), before last week’s (1-1) stalemate at home against Villarreal.

Mallorca need to refocus after a few testing weeks which started by being dumped out of the Copa del Rey by Segunda Division outfit Pontevedra (3-0), then being eliminated in the Spanish Super Cup by Real Madrid (3-0), before suffering back-to-back losses in La Liga to Villarreal and Real Betis.

Jagoba Arrasate needs to inspire ‘Los Bermellones’ to regain their UEFA Europa League position (fifth) after falling to sixth on the standings (UEFA Conference League). Mallorca are usually set up in 4-2-3-1 against the teams in the bottom half of the log.

Switching to 4-4-2 for selected, top-tier opponents, attempting to be as compact as possible between the midfield and defensive lines. Canadian striker Cyle Larin has led the line in recent games with Vedat Muriqi resigned to a bench role after his infamous “middle finger incident”, however, Muriqi has what it takes to get stuck in during a game against hard-hitting Atletico Madrid.

Expect both strikers Larin and Muriqi to start the match, relying on the aerial prowess from set-pieces to bundle home a possible goal.