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History weighs heavily against Simeone´s men – Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid in Opta numbers

SoccerNews in La Liga 9 May 2017

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Real Madrid boast a commanding first-leg lead over rivals Atletico ahead of their return meeting in the Champions League semi-finals.

History weighs heavily against Diego Simeone’s side and their head-to-head record with their city rivals in Europe’s elite competition offers little comfort.

Zinedine Zidane’s men were dominant in a 3-0 Santiago Bernabeu triumph in which Atletico rarely threatened, leaving them needing something close to a miracle on home soil.

The hosts will look to talisman Antoine Griezmann and their excellent home record in the competition for inspiration, but Madrid of course carry the most potent threat in Champions League history – Cristiano Ronaldo.

Here, we take a look at some of the key Opta stats ahead of Wednesday’s second leg – the final Madrid derby and the last Champions League encounter at the Vicente Calderon.

 

– Atletico only had one shot on target in the first leg, their lowest tally in a Champions League game under Simeone.

– This is the fourth season in succession that these city rivals have faced off in the Champions League knockout phase, with Atletico yet to claim victory during that run (D2 L3).

– Atletico have won 17 of their 22 Champions League home games under Simeone (D4 L1), their only defeat coming against Benfica in September 2015 (1-2). 

– Madrid have won their last five Champions League games, their longest ever run of victories in the knockout stages of the competition. A sixth win in a row would establish a new record for the latter stages of the Champions League.

– Madrid, alongside Juventus, are the only unbeaten team in this season’s Champions League (W8 D3). They have also only lost one of their last 13 knockout games (W9 D3), that being a 2-0 defeat against Wolfsburg in April 2016.

– Zidane’s side have scored at least two goals in each of their 11 Champions League games this season. The first leg was also the only time they have kept a clean sheet in this season’s competition.

– Atletico are the lowest scoring team in this season’s Champions League among the four semi-finalists (13 goals in 11 games). 

– Ronaldo has scored 103 goals in the Champions League, three more than Atletico. He has netted 0.79 goals per match in the knockout stages (52 in 66 games), a better rate than in the group stages (0.71).

– The Portugal international has scored eight of Madrid’s last nine goals in the Champions League – the other coming from Marco Asensio. 

– Griezmann has scored or assisted 50 per cent of Atletico’s goals in the Champions League since last season (12 goals and three assists). However, he did not shoot or have a touch inside Madrid’s box in the first leg.

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