Ajax vs Atalanta Betting Preview – Champions League (Wed, Dec 12)
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Both Ajax and Atalanta messed it up last week in the Champions League. Ajax lost to Liverpool by 1-0, after a dreadful mistake by their goalkeeper Onana. Atalanta played a draw with Midtjylland, a team with no chance of qualifying for the next round. Speaking of the next round of the Champions League, the Ajax vs Atalanta game on Wednesday will decide who goes there.
- Date: Wednesday, December 12, 2020
- Time: 12:55 PM (ET)
- Place: Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam, Netherlands
- TV: CBS Sports
Current Situation in the Champions League Group D
After beating Ajax last Tuesday, Liverpool has secured a place in the knockout stage of the Champions League. Regardless of what happens in the Ajax vs Atalanta game, Jurgen Klopp’s boys are going to finish in the top spot in Group D.
In fact, considering that the Reds have four and five points more than Atalanta and Ajax, respectively, they’re going to stay in top place even if they lose to Midtjylland.
Atalanta has one point more than Ajax, meaning that with a draw on Wednesday, they’re going to the Champions League knockouts. Ajax needs to win in order to leapfrog Atalanta.
Meanwhile, Midtjylland doesn’t have any chance of moving away from the bottom of the table, even if they beat Liverpool.
- Liverpool (12 pts)
- Atalanta (8 pts)
- Ajax (7 pts)
- Midtjylland (1 pts)
The team that finishes in 3rd place will get to play in the knockout stage of the UEFA Europa League. Not bad, but you can be sure that both Atalanta and Ajax would love to stay in the Champions League for a while.
Last Week’s Poor Results for Both Atalanta and Ajax
Ajax Losing to Injury-Ridden Liverpool
Last Tuesday, Ajax traveled to England to take on Liverpool at the Anfield. Although Liverpool was the favorite, this team entered the game without several key players.
In the Liverpool vs Ajax game, the Reds played without their first-choice goalie Alisson, as well as without defenders Van Dijk, Gomez, and Alexander-Arnold. For this reason, Ajax fans were hopeful of a good result.
However, they didn’t play well in the attack, missing all of their chances. Not being lethal wasn’t the biggest problem for Ajax – what really caused them problems is that they failed to create real goal-scoring opportunities until very late in the game.
Then, there’s also the issue about defending. The goal they conceded was the fault of their goalkeeper Andre Onana who missed to catch the ball, practically allowing Curtis Jones to score.
A thing that can make Ajax players feel a little bit better about themselves is that they lost to one of the best teams in the world. Their next opponent, however, struggled to avoid defeat to one of the worst teams competing in this years’ Champions League.
Atalanta Failing to Outscore Midtjylland
Atalanta was terrible for the most part of the game, allowing a goal in the first half and failing to take a single shot on the goal of Midtjylland in the first 15+ minutes of the second half. They got themselves the equalizer in 79′ by a goal scored by central defender Romero.
The poor result against Midtjylland was just another in a series of disappointing performances of the team from Bergamo. The game they played just a few days earlier saw them losing to Verona 2-0 at home.
Still, before the loss to Verona, they went to England and defeated Liverpool by 2-0, showing the world that they still got it. In fact, that win was the first time the Reds lost by two goals difference at the Anfield during the Jurgen Klopp reign.
Ajax vs Atalanta Betting Prediction
Both teams are famous for playing super-attacking soccer, even though they didn’t show it last week. This time, however, Ajax will have to attack – they need to win this game in over to leapfrog Atalanta.
Knowing that Atalanta is a team that doesn’t know how to defend, we’ll probably see Ajax scoring. That said, we’ll probably also see Atalanta scoring a couple.
For all these reasons, Over 3.5 Goals seems like a certainty. When it comes to soccer prop bets, probably the best option is to focus on Player Betting. It’s very likely that Ajax’s top-scorer Dusan Tadic is going to score. The same goes for the most prolific scorer in Atalanta, Luis Muriel.
Our Ajax vs Atalanta Betting Pick:
- Over 3.5 Goals (+110)
- Dusan Tadic to Score Anytime (+110)
- Luis Miriel to Score Anytime (+150)