Atletico Madrid v Bayern Munich preview: Heavyweights meet for first time in 42 years

Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich will meet for the first time in over 40 years when they step out for their Champions League semi-final first leg on Wednesday night.

They have only played twice in the past, in the 1974 European Cup final - eventually won by Bayern Munich in a replay in Brussels.

This season, both sides are flying high in their respective domestic leagues and are in with a chance of winning multiple trophies, at home and abroad.

Atletico Madrid came from behind to take advantage of Barcelona's poor run of form in their quarter-final, a second-leg 2-0 victory booking their place in the final four.

Bayern, meanwhile, survived a spirited Benfica performance to come through 3-2 on aggregate in their last-eight tie.

Atletico Madrid will look to in-form striker Fernando Torres to fire them to victory at the Vicente Calderon on Wednesday. He has scored five goals in six matches, helping them maintain pace at the top of La Liga.

Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller lead the way for Bayern and have 46 league goals between them, while Arturo Vidal is also in brilliant form having scored four goals in his last six.

Team news

Atletico Madrid will be without influential defender Diego Godin for the first leg, although the club hope he will be back in time for the return fixture in Munich.

The Uruguayan missed Atletico's previous league game with the hamstring injury, and Diego Simeone is likely to turn to Jose Gimenez and Stefan Savic at centre-back.

Thiago is the only other player missing for Atletico, barring any last-minute injuries, while Holger Badstuber and Arjen Robben are out for Bayern Munich.

Robben has a groin injury and has not played since March 5, but is expected back in training by early next week at the latest.

Opta stats

Atletico Madrid have always progressed in their last six home/away knockout encounters with German sides in European competition. Dynamo Dresden were the last German team to eliminate them, back in the 1979/80 UEFA Cup first round.

Atletico Madrid have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League/European Cup for the fifth time. Meanwhile, it's Bayern's 18th appearance in the final four of the competition, only Real Madrid can boast more (27).

Bayern Munich, the top attacking side in this Champions League campaign (28 goals), have scored exactly twice as many goals as Atletico (14) in the 2015/16 edition.

Bayern Munich have also completed 2392 more passes than Atletico in this season's competition, the biggest differential in these semi-finals.

Atletico have won only one of their last six Champions League games in the knockout stages (D3 L2), their last outing against Barcelona (2-0).

However, Atletico have won 12 of their 16 Champions League games at the Calderon under Diego Simeone (D3 L1).

Atletico have kept a clean sheet in 13 of their last 15 Champions League matches at the Calderon. Benfica's Goncalo Guedes is the last player to score past Jan Oblak at Atletico's ground, that was 429 minutes ago.

Bayern Munich have made it to the Champions League semi-finals in six of the last seven seasons. However, they have been knocked out at this stage by a Spanish team in each of the last two campaigns (Real Madrid in 2013/14, Barcelona in 2014/15).

Bayern Munich were the winners the last time the Champions League final was held in Milan, back in 2001 (1-1 a.e.t., 5-4 on pens v Valencia).

Bayern Munich are winless in their last seven away games in the Champions League knockout stages (D4 L3).

Nicholas' predictions

Atletico just don't give away any goals. I think it's 22 clean sheets in La Liga and, while I'm not a defensive strategist, I respect it and defending is an art that they're mastering.

They'll go out physically and get in Bayern's faces and, even though they're the home side, they'll be happy to sit in and know if they can nick a goal and keep another clean sheet they'll be in a fantastic position.

This is not a game I'm looking forward to in terms of excitement, passing and movement and the only way I think I'll enjoy it is if Bayern can break them down.

However, I think this will be one of those games where they just choke each other out on the night.

Charlie predicts: 0-0 (Sky Bet odds 12/1)

Betting

Bayern Munich are Sky Bet's 6/4 favourites to establish a first-leg lead with Atletico Madrid 2/1 while a stalemate is priced at 9/4. The German giants also head the outright betting at 6/4, with Wednesday's hosts given a 4/1 chance of lifting the trophy. Antoine Griezmann and Robert Lewandowski share favouritism in the first goalscorer betting at 9/2 apiece, while Jamie Redknapp is backing Fernando Torres to score first in a 1-0 win at 25/1 in his Sky Bet tips.

Get all the latest Sky Bet odds here.