Champions League: Big Match Feature: Atletico v Man City

Atlético welcome Manchester City to Madrid needing to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit, a Kevin De Bruyne goal having given the English champions the edge against their Spanish counterparts in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.

City, in the last eight for a fifth successive season, struck the first blow in the tie with 20 minutes left of the opening leg in Manchester, substitute Phil Foden setting up De Bruyne to beat Jan Oblak.

Atlético ousted City’s local rivals Manchester United in the round of 16 but are without a win in their last six UEFA Champions League home games (D4 L2), although City have lost two of their four away games in this season’s competition.

City came through their quarter-final in 2020/21 after three successive eliminations at that stage, while Atlético have not been beyond the last eight since 2016/17. However, their impressive elimination of Manchester United in this season’s last 16 set up their second quarter-final appearance in three years and overall they have three aggregate wins at this stage of the UEFA Champions League to the English club’s two.

The first leg of this tie was the sides’ first encounter, the only one of the four 2021/22 quarter-finals in which the teams had not previously met. It is also the only one of the last-eight ties not to feature at least one former European champion.

This is City’s 100th game in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final. They are the 25th club to reach that milestone and the fifth from England.

The winners of this tie will play Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

Atlético are in the European Cup quarter-finals for the 11th time, and the sixth in nine seasons. They have won three of their last five quarter-finals.

Atleti managed only two wins in this season’s group stage (D1 L3), both away from home – 2-1 at AC Milan on Matchday 2 and, crucially, 3-1 at Porto in their final fixture. In Madrid they lost to Liverpool (2-3) and Milan (0-1) after a goalless draw against Porto on Matchday 1. Having been held 1-1 at home by Manchester United in the round of 16first leg, a 1-0 win in north-west England took them through.

Champions of Spain for the 11th time in 2020/21, Atlético finished two points ahead of Real Madrid in the final Liga standings to give them their second league championship under Diego Simeone, who also guided them to the title in 2013/14.

This season was Atlético’s ninth successive UEFA Champions League group campaign and 12th overall, level with Valencia; only Barcelona and Real Madrid (both 26 participations) have featured more among Spanish sides. All but two of Atleti’s 12 group appearances have extended into the knockout stages.

Last season, Simeone’s side finished second in their section behind holders Bayern München, picking up nine points. They were the only side to deny Bayern victory in Group A, the 1-1 draw in Madrid on Matchday 5 ending the German club’s record run of UEFA Champions League victories at 15.

Atlético then lost 1-0 against Chelsea in the first leg of their round of 16 tie, a game that was played in Bucharest,before a 2-0 defeat in London.

The Madrid club have now reached the quarter-finals or better in six of their last nine UEFA Champions League campaigns – all under Simeone.

This season’s win at Manchester United is one of only eight Atlético victories in their last 23 European matches (D57Club L10).

The first-leg draw against Manchester United extended Atlético’s unbeaten run in home UEFA Champions League knockout matches to 15 (W9 D6), since a 3-2 loss to Ajax in the 1996/97 quarter-final second leg that sealed a 4-3aggregate defeat.

Atleti have been victorious in ten of their 13 two-legged knockout contests against English teams, last season’s aggregate defeat by Chelsea ending a run of five successive victories; only Derby County (1974/75 UEFA Cup) and Bolton Wanderers (2007/08 UEFA Cup) had previously eliminated them.

Atlético lost home (2-3) and away (0-2) to Liverpool in this season’s group stage, finishing each game with ten men, the first-leg draw against United therefore ending a run of four successive losses against English clubs.

The Matchday 3 defeat in Madrid against Liverpool was one of only two Atlético losses in 16 visits from English clubs(W8 D6), the other a 2-1 reverse against Chelsea in 2017 in their first European game at the Estadio Metropolitano.

Atlético have won 12 and lost 11 of the UEFA competition ties in which they lost the away first leg, losing the most recent against Real Madrid in the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League semi-finals (0-3 a, 2-1 h). When going down 1-0in the away first leg their aggregate record is W3 L3, two of the victories coming in the most recent ties, both in the UEFA Champions League – against Schalke in the 2008/09 third qualifying round (4-0 h) and Bayer Leverkusen in the2014/15 round of 16 (1-0 h, 3-2 pens).

The last tie Atlético lost after falling to a 1-0 defeat in the first away leg was against City’s near-neighbours Bolton (0-0 h) in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 32. Bolton and Sion, who won 4-2 on aggregate (1-0 h, 3-2 a) in the 1984/85UEFA Cup second round, are the only two of the 23 teams who beat Atlético in the home first leg to have avoided a second-leg defeat in Madrid.

City collected 12 points in this season’s group stage to finish a point clear of Paris, winning all three home games but losing two of the three away, at Paris (0-2) and Leipzig (1-2) either side of a 5-1 victory at Club Brugge. They then eased past Sporting CP in the round of 16 thanks to a 5-0 win in Portugal and a goalless draw in Manchester.

In 2020/21 City ended a run of three successive quarter-final eliminations by going all the way to the UEFAChampions League final only to lose 1-0 to Chelsea at Porto’s Estádio do Dragão on 29 May.

City beat Borussia Mönchengladbach (2-0 a, 2-0 h), Borussia Dortmund (2-1 h, 2-1 a) and Paris (2-1 a, 2-0 h) enroute to the final. They had finished first in Group C with 16 points, keeping five clean sheets and conceding only one goal – equalling the UEFA Champions League group stage record.

City have already conceded ten goals in the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League, five more than in their 13 games in last season’s competition, although they have kept clean sheets in all three knockout phase matches, having failed to record any during the group stage.

Champions of England for the seventh time in 2020/21, their third title in four seasons, City also claimed the English League Cup for the fourth season in a row and the eighth overall.

This is the Cityzens’ 11th UEFA Champions League campaign; they have been involved in the group stage every season since 2011/12 and have now reached the knockout rounds in nine successive campaigns.

Pep Guardiola’s team have won 14 of their last 21 away European matches (D3 L4). The last two defeats before the loss in Paris on Matchday 2 had both come in England; the previous away game they had lost abroad was at Shakhtar Donetsk (1-2) on Matchday 6 of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League.

This season’s victory at Sporting made it five successive away wins in the UEFA Champions League knockout phase and seven in a row outside England. Overall, however, City have won only eight of their 15 away knockout phase matches in the competition (D1 L6).

City have won their last four games against Spanish clubs, beating Atlético’s city rivals Real Madrid in the 2019/20UEFA Champions League round of 16 (2-1 a, 2-1 h) in their last such fixtures before this tie.

That made City’s record against Spanish clubs in two-legged knockout ties W2 L4 and ended a run of four successive defeats. It was also their first aggregate victory against Liga opponents in the UEFA Champions League,having twice lost to Barcelona in the round of 16, in both 2013/14 (1-4 aggregate) and 2014/15 (1-3 agg), and Madrid in the 2015/16 semi-finals (0-1 agg).

The 2-1 win at Real Madrid in the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg was only City’s third victory in their 11 visits to Spain (D1 L7). It was also their first knockout win away to a Spanish club in their sixth fixture (D1L4).

City have triumphed in six of the eight UEFA competition ties in which they won the home first leg, most recently against Dortmund in last season’s quarter-finals. When the home first game has finished 1-0, their aggregate record is W1 L1, beating Linfield on away goals in the 1970/71 European Cup Winners’ Cup first round (1-2 a) but losing to Juventus at the same stage of the 1976/77 UEFA Cup (0-2 a). Their only other aggregate defeat after winning the first leg at home was on away goals against Monaco in the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League round of 16 (5-3 h, 1-3 a),the second leg at the Stade Louis II their last away defeat outside England in the competition’s knockout phase.

City’s record in two UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W2 L0:

4-2 v Midtjylland, 2008/09 UEFA Cup second qualifying round4-3 v Aalborg, 2008/09 UEFA Cup round of 16

Stefan Savic spent 2011/12 at City, making 11 Premier League appearances as the Manchester club claimed theirfirst league title for 44 years. (Adapted from a SuperSport report)