Atletico Madrid come into this one with the kind of quiet menace that Simeone has trademarked. They've just kicked off their La Liga campaign with a 3-5-2 that looks built to suffocate and then strike — the recent 1-0 friendly win over Levante for Villarreal tells you they're not in full flow yet, but Atletico's pre-season has been about sharpening the blade, not polishing the handle. The home side's squad is stacked: Oblak in goal, a back three that now includes the marquee signing Cristian Romero, and a front two of Julian Alvarez and Ademola Lookman that can knife through any defence in Spain. They'll smell blood at the Metropolitano.

Villarreal, meanwhile, are a side in transition. They finished level on points with Atletico last season, third and fourth separated only by goal difference, but that was then. This is a new campaign, and their recent form is a single friendly win over Levante — a 1-0 that shows they can grind, but not that they can dominate. They've got European ambitions, sure, but their squad has been hit by the long-term ACL injury to Impact Costa, a centre-back who would have been crucial against this Atletico frontline. They're not the same team without him. Atletico, by contrast, look like a side that's added pieces, not lost them. Momentum is red and white.