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.
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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.
FORM GUIDE
Atlético
• Atlético's record in European Cup quarter-finals is W6 L4:
2019/20 Leipzig L 1-2 (n)
2016/17 Leicester W 2-1 (1-0 h, 1-1 a)
2015/16 Barcelona W 3-2 (1-2 a, 2-0 h)
2014/15 Real Madrid L 0-1 (0-0 h, 0-1 a)
2013/14 Barcelona W 2-1 (1-1 a, 1-0 h)
1996/97 Ajax L 3-4 (1-1 a, 2-3 h)
1977/78 Club Brugge L 3-4 (0-2 a, 3-2 h)
1973/74 Crvena zvezda W 2-0 (2-0 a, 0-0 h)
1970/71 Legia Warszawa W 2-2 away goals (1-0 h, 1-2 a)
1958/59 Schalke W 4-1 (3-0 h, 1-1 a)
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.
Atlético's record in six UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W2 L4:
6-7 v Derby, 1974/75 UEFA Cup second round
1-3 v Fiorentina, 1989/90 UEFA Cup first round
1-3 v Villarreal, 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup final
3-2 v Bayer Leverkusen, 2014/15 UEFA Champions League round of 168-7 v PSV Eindhoven, 2015/16 UEFA Champions League round of 163-5 v Real Madrid, 2015/16 UEFA Champions League final
Manchester City
• City's record in European Cup quarter-finals is W2 L3:
2020/21 Borussia Dortmund W 4-2 (2-1 h, 2-1 a)
2019/20 Lyon L 1-3 (n)
2018/19 Tottenham L 4-4 away goals (0-1 a, 4-3 h)
2017/18 Liverpool L 1-5 (0-3 a, 1-2 h)
2015/16 Paris Saint-Germain W 3-2 (2-2 a, 1-0 h)
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
LINKS AND TRIVIA
Simeone got the better of Guardiola in the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League semi-final when his Atlético side eliminated Guardiola's Bayern on away goals (1-0 h, 1-2 a). The coaches' one Liga meeting, however, ended with Guardiola's Barcelona defeating Simeone's Atlético 2-1 in Madrid on 26 February 2012.
Simeone and Guardiola were regular opponents as players, meeting in ten club matches when Simeone was with Atlético and Sevilla and Guardiola at Barcelona. Simeone recorded three wins to Guardiola's four, although the Argentinian did come out on top in the 1996 Copa del Rey final, Atlético winning 1-0 after extra time.
Simeone also helped Argentina to a 2-0 friendly victory against Guardiola's Spain in Seville on 17 November 1999.• Guardiola faced Atlético 22 times as a player while at Barcelona, scoring once (W13 D5 L4). As Barcelona coach, Guardiola faced Atlético ten times, winning eight matches and losing two.
Rodri joined City from Atlético in 2019 following a solitary season in the Spanish capital where he made 34 Ligaappearances, scoring three times.
Born in Madrid, Rodri was an Atlético youth team player before moving to Villarreal in 2014, where he went on tomake 63 Liga appearances. He rejoined Atleti in summer 2018.
Stefan Savic spent 2011/12 at City, making 11 Premier League appearances as the Manchester club claimed theirfirst league title for 44 years.
Has also played in England:
Luis Suárez (Liverpool 2011–14)
Suárez's record against Manchester City with Liverpool was W2 D3 L1, his only goal coming in a 2-2 draw at Anfieldon 26 August 2012.
Suárez also scored both Barcelona goals in a 2-1 win at City in the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League round of 16first leg; his record against the English club with Barça was W3 L1.
Have played together:
João Félix & Rúben Dias (Benfica 2015–19)
Luis Suárez & Raheem Sterling (Liverpool 2012–14)
International team-mates:
Koke, Marcos Llorente, Mario Hermoso & Rodri, Aymeric Laporte (Spain)
Yannick Carrasco & Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium)
Felipe, Matheus Cunha, Renan Lodi & Ederson, Gabriel Jesus (Brazil)
João Félix & Bernardo Silva, João Cancelo, Rúben Dias (Portugal)
Koke, Llorente, Rodri and Laporte were part of the Spain squad that reached the semi-finals of UEFA EURO 2020.
LATEST NEWS
Atlético
Yannick Carrasco's next appearance in UEFA club competition will be his 50th.
Luis Suárez has scored 48 goals in UEFA club competition.
The first-leg loss at City ended Atlético's six-game winning run in all competitions. It was their first defeat since a 1-0home reverse against Levante on 16 February; their subsequent record was W7 D1.
That loss at Levante was Atlético's tenth in 19 games.
Atlético were also beaten on Saturday, going down 1-0 at Mallorca. Having also lost 2-1 at home to the same opponents in December, Atlético have therefore been beaten twice by the same promoted club in a Liga campaign for the first time since 2005/06.
Koke scored in a 1-0 victory at Rayo Vallecano on 19 March, the Atlético captain's first goal for the club since January 2021.
The win at Rayo Vallecano was Atlético's third clean sheet in five Liga fixtures, but one of only four in the last 18;they have conceded two or more goals in eight of those games but none of the last eight.
Atlético have conceded 38 goals in this season's Liga; they let in only 25 in the whole of 2020/21.
Atlético's eight Liga defeats in 2021/22 is four more than in the whole of last season's title-winning campaign.
João Félix has scored seven goals in his last ten Atlético appearances in all competitions.
Mario Hermoso has scored twice in his last five Atleti appearances, late winners at home to Valencia on 22 January(3-2) and Getafe on 12 February (4-3). His only previous Liga goal for the Madrid club had come on 22 December2020.
Suárez found the net in Uruguay's 2-0 victory in Chile on 29 March to become the all-time top-scorer in South American FIFA World Cup qualifying with 29 goals – overtaking Lionel Messi.
Šime Vrsaljko (thigh) and Thomas Lemar (hamstring) were out between a 3-1 victory at Betis on 6 March and a 4-1home win against Alavés on 2 April.
Matheus Cunha was out between 16 February and 2 April with a knee injury.
Daniel Wass, a January signing from Valencia, picked up a knee problem on his debut after coming on as a substitute against Barcelona in a 4-2 defeat on 6 February and has not played since, although he has been an unused substitute in the last three games.
Héctor Herrera has missed Atleti's last three games with a hamstring injury.
José María Giménez sat out the first leg and Saturday's defeat at Mallorca with a muscle injury picked up late on against Alavés.
Who joins Real Madrid and Villarreal in the #UCL semifinals?
— SuperSport ?? (@SuperSportTV) April 13, 2022
Manchester City
Scott Carson's substitute appearance in the round of 16 second leg against Sporting was just his second in the UEFA Champions League and came almost 17 years after his first, for Liverpool against Juventus in the quarter-final first leg on 5 April 2005.
The first leg against Atlético was City's third successive victory in all competitions.
City's winning run ended on Sunday when the Premier League leaders twice let slip the lead to draw 2-2 at home to second-placed Liverpool despite goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus. That made it nine games without defeat (W6 D3) but was the first Premier League match this season in which they had scored first and not gone on to win; they had been victorious in all the previous 22. City remain a point ahead of Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table with seven games remaining.
First-leg scorer De Bruyne has six goals in his last six City appearances, the strike against Liverpool the fourth successive match in which he had found the net for the first time for City. His goal in a 2-0 win at Burnley on 2 April and his strike against Liverpool took him to 11 in this season's Premier League, just the second time he has reached double figures in the competition after his 13-goal haul in 2019/20.
Having drawn 0-0 at home to Sporting CP in the round of 16 second leg, City were held by the same scoreline at Crystal Palace on 14 March, the first time since October they had failed to score in successive matches, when Palace were also their second opponents.
City hit four goals in their next fixture, a 4-1 win at Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-finals on 20 March. They willplay Liverpool at Wembley in the last four on 16 April.
City had won 14 of their 15 Premier League games, drawing 1-1 at Southampton on 22 January, before a 3-2 home defeat against Tottenham on 19 February; they have won three of their five matches since.
That loss to Spurs is City's only defeat in their last 23 matches in all competitions (W18 D4).
The defeat against Spurs is one of only two City reverses in their last 31 games in all competitions (W25 D4), the other at Leipzig on Matchday 6.
Aymeric Laporte made his 100th Premier League appearance at Burnley, his 82nd victory in the competition; no player has won more games in their first century of appearances.
Pep Guardiola's side have scored 60 goals in their last 23 games, conceding 14.
City won 36 league games in 2021, an English top-flight record; the previous best of 33 was set by Liverpool in 1982.Nineteen of those victories came away from home, another top-flight best.
On 29 March João Cancelo and Bernardo Silva helped Portugal to a 2-0 home win against North Macedonia to secure their place in the FIFA World Cup finals.
The same day, Riyad Mahrez's Algeria lost 2-1 after extra time at home to Cameroon to miss out on a World Cup place on away goals.
Rúben Dias has been out since 1 March with a hamstring injury.
Cole Palmer has not played since scoring in City's FA Cup win at Swindon on 7 January due to an ankle injury.• City signed Julián Álvarez from River Plate in January, although the 22-year-old forward has been loaned back to the Argentinian club for the rest of the season.
Two spots remain in the semifinals of the #UCL
— SuperSport ?? (@SuperSportTV) April 12, 2022
Will we see a battle of Spain ?? England in the semis or will Atletico and Benfica throw a spanner in the works? ??