Big Match Feature: Atletico Madrid v Inter Milan

For the second season in a row, Inter Milan travel to the concluding away leg of their Uefa Champions League round of 16 defending a 1-0 advantage on Wednesday, with Atletico Madrid the side tasked with turning round their tie against the Nerazzurri. Catch the action live on SuperSport.

The opening instalment of the tie at San Siro on 20 February – just the sides' second meeting – was settled in favour of the home team thanks to a goal from Inter substitute Marko Arnautović 11 minutes from time. That extended his side's unbeaten run in this season's competition while inflicting a first defeat of the campaign on an Atlético side coached by former Inter midfielder Diego Simeone.

Champions League runners-up in 2014 and 2016, Atlético had won three successive games in the competition before losing in Milan, a 2-0 Matchday 6 win against Inter's Serie A rivals Lazio in Madrid sealing first place in Group E. Inter, meanwhile, concluded their group campaign with a 0-0 draw at home to another Spanish side, Real Sociedad, ensuring they would finish second behind the Liga outfit in Group D.

Inter – who reached a first final since 2010 in 2023 – are making a third successive round of 16 appearance having missed out for nine seasons in a row before 2021/22; Atlético are in the knockout rounds for the fifth time in six seasons, although they have lost two of their last four ties at this stage.

MATCH FACTS

This is the first time Atlético de Madrid are hosting Inter in all competitions. They’ve won seven of their last nine home games against Italian sides, drawing with Juventus is September 2019 (2-2), and losing to Milan in November 2021 (0-1).

Inter are winless in their last 10 away games against Spanish sides in the Uefa Champions League (D3 L7), since beating Valencia 5-1 in October 2004.

Atlético de Madrid’s 1-0 defeat in the first leg was the sixth time they’ve lost the opening leg of a Uefa Champions League knockout stage tie. They ended up progressing from the first two (v Bayer Leverkusen in 2014-15 and Barcelona in 2015-16), but have been eliminated from each of the last three (Real Madrid 2016-17, Chelsea 2020-21, Man City 2021-22).

Inter have progressed from seven of their eight previous Uefa Champions League knockout stage ties in which they won the first leg. The exception was in the 2005-06 quarterfinal against Villarreal (2-1 home, 0-1 away, eliminated on away goals).

Since beating Liverpool 3-2 in March 2020, Atlético de Madrid have scored just three goals in their eight Uefa Champions League knockout stage matches. They’ve failed to score on five occasions in that run, including each of their last three (twice v Manchester City last year and in the first leg v Inter).

Inter are looking to reach the Uefa Champions League quarterfinal in consecutive seasons for the third time, previously doing so in 2004-05/2005-06 and 2009-10/2010-11.

Inter are unbeaten in all seven of their Uefa Champions League matches this season, after losing last season’s final to Manchester City (W4 D3). They last had a longer run without defeat in the competition between December 2003 and March 2005 (9).

Atlético de Madrid didn’t register a single shot on target against Inter in the first leg – the only instance on record (since 2003-04) of a team failing to have a shot on target across both legs of a Uefa Champions League knockout stage tie is Deportivo de La Coruña, in their 2003-04 semifinal against FC Porto.

This will be Atlético de Madrid manager Diego Simeone’s 50th home game in charge in the Uefa Champions League, the seventh manager to reach that particular milestone. He’s lost just five of his 49 at home so far (W31 D13), with no manager losing fewer in their first 50 (Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho also 5).

Atlético de Madrid midfielder Rodrigo De Paul has created six chances following a line-breaking pass in the Uefa Champions League this season, including one in the reverse fixture against Inter. As of the end of the first leg matches in the round of 16, his total of six was the joint-most of any player in the competition this term (level with Jude Bellingham).

SHOOTOUT RECORDS

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 16
• 8-7 v PSV Eindhoven, 2015/16 UEFA Champions League round of 16
• 3-5 v Real Madrid, 2015/16 UEFA Champions League final

Inter's record in four UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W2 L2:

• 5-4 v Celtic, 1971/72 European Cup semi-final
• 3-4 v Aston Villa, 1994/95 UEFA Cup first round
• 5-3 v Grazer AK, 1996/97 UEFA Cup second round
• 1-4 v Schalke, 1996/97 UEFA Cup final