Real Madrid and Atalanta meet in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 on Tuesday, March 16.
Real Madrid returns to the Bernabéu as the clear favorite to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals following a 1-0 win in the first leg against Serie A side Atalanta in the round of 16, but it would ill-advised to assume Los Blancos are in for an easy ride.
In last month's trip to Bergamo, Real Madrid barely scraped past the Italian underdogs with an 86th-minute goal from Ferland Mendy despite playing with a man advantage for 73 minutes after Atalanta midfielder Remo Freuler's early red card.
How to Watch:
Time: 4 p.m. ET
TV Channel: CBS Sports Network, TUDN, UniMas
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Real Madrid has gotten quite used to dealing without its star winger Eden Hazard—the $113 million man has started less than half of Real's matches since arriving from Chelsea two summers ago. The Belgian international returned from a two-month injury layoff this weekend in a comeback win over Elche, but won't be available to face Atalanta on Tuesday after picking up another injury.
Real Madrid will also have a massive hole to fill in holding midfield with Casemiro suspended after picking up his third yellow card of the competition. But at least manager Zinedine Zidane will have Sergio Ramos back in defense after the Real captain returned from injury this weekend.
Following Juventus's ignominious Champions League elimination by Porto last week, Atalanta remains the last hope in the competition for Serie A, with Lazio down 4-1 to defending champion Bayern Munich. Atalanta heads to Madrid having won six of its last eight matches in all competitions.
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