Big Match Feature: Atalanta v PSG

Atalanta's memorable first Uefa Champions League campaign resumes with a quarterfinal meeting against Paris Saint-Germain at Lisbon's Estadio da Luz on Wednesday. Catch the action live on SuperSport and live streaming through DStv Now

While the Italian side are in only their third European quarterfinal – and first for 29 years – PSG are in the UEFA Champions League last eight for the fifth time in eight seasons and are looking to reach a first semi-final since 1995.

Atalanta are unbeaten in their two games against French opponents while the most recent of PSG's two wins in 20 matches against Italian clubs came in March 1996.

FORM GUIDE

ATALANTA

Atalanta picked up seven points in the group stage to qualify as Group C runners-up, seven behind Manchester City and one ahead of Shakhtar Donetsk.

The Italian club took only one point from their first four games and have suffered their two heaviest European defeats this season, losing 4-0 away to Dinamo Zagreb on Matchday 1 before a 5-1 loss at Manchester City in their second away game.

Atalanta got their first point on the board with a 1-1 draw at home to City in their fourth fixture. They then picked up their first UEFA Champions League win with a 2-0 defeat of Dinamo in Milan and snatched a place in the last 16 thanks to a 3-0 win at Shakhtar on Matchday 6.

Valencia were then dismantled in the round of 16, Atalanta winning 4-1 at home and 4-3 away with Josip Ilicic scoring all the goals in Spain – the first time a player has scored four goals away in a UEFA Champions League knockout phase match – to take his side into a first European Cup quarter-final.

The victory against Dinamo ended Atalanta's six-match winless run in Europe (D3 L3). The successes at Shakhtar and at home and away against Valencia have made it four consecutive European victories, a new club record; their previous best was three in a row in the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase.

Before Matchday 1 the Italian club were unbeaten in seven matches in continental competition; they have still lost only four of their last 22 European games (W11 D7).

This is Atalanta's 44th European match, and their seventh campaign in continental competition. They reached the European Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals in 1987/88 and the UEFA Cup quarter-finals three years later.

Atalanta's record in European quarter-finals is W1 L1. They were 3-1 aggregate victors against Sporting CP in the 1987/88 European Cup Winners' Cup but lost 2-0 to Internazionale over two games in the 1990/91 UEFA Cup.

Third in Serie A in 2018/19, their highest ever finish, and Coppa Italia runners-up, this is Atalanta's third successive European campaign. They came through the UEFA Europa League group stage in 2017/18, losing to Borussia Dortmund in the round of 32 (2-3 a, 1-1 h), and were beaten 4-3 on penalties by Copenhagen in the play-offs of the same competition in 2018/19 after the tie had finished goalless; Atalanta had earlier eliminated Sarajevo (10-2 aggregate) and Hapoel Haifa (6-1).

Atalanta lost five of their first six away European matches (D1) but have since suffered only four defeats in 15 (W6 D5) and just three in the last 11 (W5 D3).

Atalanta were the only team to make their UEFA Champions League group stage debut in 2019/20 – they were the tenth Italian club to feature and the 141st overall – and were one of two round of 16 debutants along with Germany's RB Leipzig, who have also reached the quarter-finals.

The Italian club's record in UEFA knockout ties is W9 L6.

This is only Atalanta's third fixture against a French club; they took four points off Lyon in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League group stage, winning 1-0 at home after a 1-1 away draw in which Alejandro Gómez scored the Italian side's goal.

Atalanta's record in Portugal is D1 L1, both those games coming in Lisbon against Sporting CP. They lost 3-1 in the 1963/64 European Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round second leg (3-3 aggregate, 1-3 replay) and drew 1-1 in the quarter-final second leg of the same competition in 1987/88 (3-1 aggregate).

Atalanta have yet to feature in a UEFA penalty shoot-out.

PSG

This is PSG's sixth appearance in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, where their record is W1 L4:

• 2015/16 Manchester City L 2-3 (2-2 h, 0-1 a)
• 2014/15 Barcelona L 1-5 (1-3 h, 0-2 a)
• 2013/14 Chelsea L 3-3 away goals (3-1 h, 0-2 a)
• 2012/13 Barcelona L 3-3 away goals (2-2 h, 1-1 a)
• 1994/95 Barcelona W 3-2 (1-1 a, 2-1 h)

PSG have won only two of their ten European Cup quarter-final matches (D4 L4). After their sole previous victory in a last-eight tie, in 1994/95, they lost to AC Milan in the semi-finals.

PSG won all but one of their six games in this season's group stage, dropping points only in a 2-2 draw at Real Madrid on Matchday 5. They beat the Spanish side 3-0 at the Parc des Princes in the opening round of fixtures, and twice defeated Club Brugge (5-0 a, 1-0 h) and Galatasaray (1-0 a, 5-0 h).

In the round of 16, the French club overturned a 2-1 first-leg defeat at Borussia Dortmund to progress thanks to a 2-0 home win, their first aggregate knockout victory since March 2016.

Thomas Tuchel's side had the best defensive record in this season's group stage having conceded only twice, both goals against Madrid, and have now conceded only four times, still fewer than any other club.

PSG have won ten of their last 15 UEFA Champions League matches (D3 L2) and have now scored in 32 consecutive games in the competition.

Ligue 1 champions for the seventh time in eight years in 2019/20, and ninth time overall, this is the French side's eighth successive UEFA Champions League campaign.

Semi-finalists in 1995, Paris have been knocked out in the round of 16 in the last three seasons having been eliminated in the quarter-finals in the four previous campaigns. In 2018/19, Paris looked set to reach the last eight after a 2-0 first-leg victory at Manchester United in the round of 16, but bowed out on away goals following a 3-1 home defeat.

PSG last visited Portugal for a 2-1 defeat at Benfica in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League group stage, a match that also took place at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica. That made it three losses from three visits to both Lisbon and the ground, all against Benfica; their overall record in Portugal is W1 D1 L5, the sole success a 1-0 victory at Braga in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup round of 16 second leg.

PSG have drawn their last six games against Italian clubs, most recently home (2-2) and away (1-1) with Napoli in the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League group stage. They have not beaten a Serie A side since a 3-1 defeat of Parma in the quarter-final second leg of their victorious UEFA Cup Winners' Cup campaign in 1995/96; that is their sole success in their last 15 matches with Italian clubs (D7 L7) and only their second overall (D9 L9).

The Parisian club's record in knockout ties against Italian opponents is W3 L5; they won the most recent, defeating Brescia on away goals in a 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup final (0-0 h, 1-1 a).

PSG's European penalty shoot-out record is W0 L1: 3-4 v Rangers, 2001/02 UEFA Cup third round

Source: UEFA.com