"He is the Champions League, isn’t he?"- Manchester United legend backs Cristiano Ronaldo to shine against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League
Manchester United take on Atletico Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 tie on Wednesday.
One man who will know all about such big clashes is Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Red Devils forward is a player for the big occasion, and has delivered numerous times in crucial UCL matches. He is currently the competition's top scorer and Atletico Madrid will be wary of the CR7 threat.
Ronaldo's former Manchester United teammate Wes Brown recently spoke to SunSport about the heavyweight clash between the Red Devils and Atletico Madrid.
Brown backed Ronaldo to deliver the goods on the big occasion once again.
The first leg will be held at the Wanda Metropolitano
When Cristiano Ronaldo scored a WORLD CLASS HATRICK against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals.
The greatest big game player ever. 🐐
https://t.co/0QAWuWWdtM
Both sides have some seriously talented players but the limelight will be on Ronaldo. The veteran forward will be making his 84th UCL knockout appearance.
Ronaldo has scored 67 knockout goals in his 83 appearances so far. He has also made 15 assists in that time. His records are the best in the history of the competition.
With five UCL titles under his belt, Ronaldo is known as 'Mr. Champions League'.
Brown spoke of Ronaldo's prowess on such occasions and backed the Portuguese forward to step up once again.
"This is him. He is the Champions League, isn’t he? These Champions League nights, they are a bit different to playing domestically. They can be special and he is the one that steps up into another league." said Wes Brown.
Atletico Madrid trained with a back five in training to prepare for Manchester United - Reports
According to Javier Diaz' report (via utdreport), Diego Simeone used a back five in his recent training sessions. The same is reportedly being done to prepare the team to face Manchester United.
5-3-2 is set to be the formation, with Joao Felix and Angel Correa given the nod up front. Former Liverpool and Barcelona forward Luis Suarez is set to be benched for the big match on Wednesday.
The starting XI Atlético Madrid practiced with this morning: Oblak; Vrsaljko, Savić, Felipe, Reinildo, Lodi; Marcos Llorente, Herrera, Kondogbia; Correa and João Félix #mulive [@AS_Picu] twitter.com/utdreport/stat…
It will be a big change for Atletico Madrid, who have played in the 4-4-2 for the majority of the season. It has yielded them good results on several occasions with their last outing against Osasuna ending in a 3-0 win.
However, Atletico are also known for being versatile and adaptable in these big matches. They have tweaked their formation and playing style on several big match occasions to get the desired results.
Manchester United have played with a strict 4-2-3-1 since the arrival of Ralf Rangnick and are expected to continue with the same formation. They defeated Leeds United 4-2 in their last outing at Elland Road.