MADRID, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Atletico Madrid faces Club Brugge in the return leg of its Champions League play-off on Tuesday in a vital game for the club's season.
Although Atletico is favorite to qualify for the Copa del Rey final after a 4-0 first leg semifinal win against FC Barcelona, it is out of the race for the La Liga title and after another big-spending season, coach Diego Simeone needs to keep the club's hopes alive in Europe.
Last Wednesday's first leg in Bruges was a thrilling affair that showed the best and the worst sides of Simeone's Atletico, who led 2-0 at halftime thanks to goals from Julian Alvarez and Ademola Lookman.
Atletico was then guilty of conforming with the result at the start of the second half and allowed the Belgian side back into the game, with Raphael Onyedika and Nicolo Tresoldi scoring to level the game by the hour.
An own goal put Atletico back ahead with 11 minutes to play, but Club Brugge was again able to level in the closing moments to keep the tie very much alive for Tuesday.
Atletico showed what it is capable of on Saturday with an impressive attacking display to beat Espanyol 4-2, with Lookman again impressive, while Alexander Sorloth scored twice to take overtake Luis Suarez in the list of goalscorers for the club.
Simeone's main decision on Tuesday will be whether to continue with Sorloth in attack or to pair Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann, but he will be happy to have so many attacking options to choose from.
Pablo Barrios and Nico Gonzalez are still out injured for Atletico, while Simeone will again put his faith in central defensive pair of the improving Marc Pubill and David Hancko.
The pairing of the right- and left-footed defenders has allowed Atletico to gain balance at the back and both Pubill and Hancko are comfortable with the ball at their feet, allowing them to play the ball out from the back against a rival that will have 2,000 fans in the stands of the Metropolitano Stadium and which has shown it can cause Atletico problems. Enditem
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