UCL: Ahletico Madrid Chelsea preview
22 Apr 2014 09:00:00
Atletico Madrid have never
lost at home to English sides
- food for thought for José
Mourinho who revisits the
Spanish capital for Chelsea's
seventh semifinal.
The last two winners of the Europa League
meet at Estadio Vicente Calderón for the right
to progress to the Uefa Champions League
final. Catch the action live on SS3 HD and
live streaming on supersport.com from 8pm .
For José Mourinho, appearing in the
semifinals for the fifth season in a row, it is a
return to the city which was his home for
three years, but his Chelsea team face a
formidable task as Atletico Madrid have
never lost to English visitors.
Signed by Chelsea in 2011, Thibaut Courtois
is in his third season on loan at Atletico and
will look to help deny his permanent
employers their third Champions League
final in seven seasons. The Spanish side, in
the semifinals for the first time since 1974,
are the last unbeaten team left in the
competition having won eight and drawn two
of their ten matches this season.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS:
The teams met in the 2012 Uefa Super Cup
when Radamel Falcao's first-half hat-trick
gave Atletico a 4-1 victory in Monaco and
their second triumph in the competition in
three years. Gary Cahill scored Chelsea's
consolation after Miranda had made it 4-0
on the hour.
The lineups at the Stade Louis II on 31
August 2012 were:
Atletico: Courtois, Juanfran, Godín, Miranda,
Filipe Luís, Mario Suárez, Gabi, Koke (García
81), Adrián López (Rodríguez 56), Arda
Turan, Falcao (Emre Belözoglu 87).
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, David Luiz, Cahill,
Cole (Bertrand 69), Ramires (Oscar 46),
Lampard, Mikel, Mata (Sturridge 81), Hazard,
Torres.
The teams' only other encounters came in the
2009/10 Champions League group stage
when Chelsea collected four points from their
Spanish rivals to finish top of Group D.
Atletico came third and transferred to the
maiden edition of the Europa League, which
they eventually won.
The game in Spain ended 2-2, confirming
Chelsea's place in the knockout phase and
ending Atletico's hopes of progress.
Substitute Sergio Agüero (66, 90+1)
salvaged a point after Didier Drogba (82, 88)
had also scored twice.
The teams at the Estadio Vicente Calderón
on 3 November 2009 were:
Atletico: Asenjo, Perea, Pablo Ibáñez,
Juanito, López, Reyes (Rodríguez 73),
Cléber, Paulo Assunção, Simão (Jurado 83),
Sinama Pongolle (Agüero 53), Forlán.
Chelsea: Cech, Belletti, Alex, Terry, A Cole,
Essien (Ballack 59), Lampard, Malouda, J
Cole (Deco 70), Drogba, Kalou (Anelka 70).
Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea had won 4-0 at
Stamford Bridge, Salomon Kalou scoring
twice (41, 52) before Frank Lampard (69)
added another and Luis Perea (90+1) headed
a Florent Malouda free-kick into his own net.
The defeat prompted the departure of Atlético
coach Abel Resino, Quique Sánchez Flores
taking over.
The lineups on 21 October 2009 were:
Chelsea: Cech, Belletti, Ivanovic, Terry, A
Cole (Malouda 75), Ballack, Essien, Lampard,
Kalou (Zhirkov 73), Deco, Anelka (Sturridge
78).
Atletico: Asenjo, Ujfaluši, Perea, Domínguez,
López, Cléber (Rodríguez 65), Raúl García,
Paulo Assunção (Jurado 54), Forlán, Simão
(Reyes 77), Agüero.
MATCH BACKGROUND
Atletico have taken on English sides 21
times, winning eight, drawing eight and
losing five. At home their record is W5 D4
L0 . In seven two-legged ties with English
clubs in Uefa competition, Atlético have won
five and lost two.
In 2009/10 they beat Fulham 2-1 after extra
time in Hamburg in the inaugural Europa
League final. They had put out Liverpool FC
on away goals in the semi-final, winning 1-0
at home before going down 2-1 away.
Atlético lost 5-1 to Tottenham Hotspur in the
1962/63 European Cup Winners' Cup final in
Rotterdam.
Atletico have won all five home games in this
season's competition, most recently a 1-0
triumph against FC Barcelona in the quarter-
final second leg that secured a 2-1
aggregate win. It was their 17th victory in
their last 18 home European games, the only
blip a 2-0 loss to Rubin Kazan in the Europa
League round of 32 in February 2013.
This is Atlético's 13th appearance in a major
Uefa club competition semifinal; they have
won six and lost six.
Their three previous three European Cup
semifinals have produced one win and two
defeats:
1973/74 Celtic, won 2-0 (0-0 a, 2-0 h)
1970/71 AFC Ajax, lost 1-3 (1-0 h, 0-3 a)
1958/59 Real Madrid, lost 1-2 in a replay
(1-2 a, 1-0 h)
Chelsea's seventh Champions League
semifinal appearance in 11 campaigns was
sealed with a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge
against Paris Saint-Germain after they had
lost the away leg 3-1.
Before losing to Atletico in Monaco, Chelsea
had gone 15 competitive fixtures without
defeat against Spanish opponents. Their last
reverse prior to that had come against
Barcelona in the 2005/06 Champions League
round of 16, a 2-1 home loss.
Chelsea's record away to Liga opposition is
W3 D6 L5 ; overall their record is W14 D11
L7 . In two-legged Uefa competition ties their
record is W4 L5 .
They have twice beaten Real Madrid in finals
on neutral ground, lifting the 1998 Super Cup
with a 1-0 win in Monaco. They won their
first continental honour by beating Madrid in
the 1971 European Cup Winners' Cup final in
Athens, prevailing 2-1 in the replay after a
1-1 draw.
Chelsea have won one of their four European
semi-finals against Spanish opponents. In
the Champions League, they beat Barcelona
in 2011/12 having lost to the same
opponents in 2009; in the Uefa Cup Winners'
Cup they lost to Mallorca (1999) and Real
Zaragoza (1995).
Chelsea, Champions League winners two
years ago, have won two of their six previous
semifinals:
2011/12 Barcelona, won 3-2 (1-0 h, 2-2
a)
2008/09 Barcelona, 1-1, lost on away
goals (0-0 a, 1-1 h)
2007/08 Liverpool, won 4-3 (1-1 a, 3-2
h)
2006/07 Liverpool, 1-1, lost 1-4 on pens
(1-0 h, 0-1 a)
2004/05 Liverpool, lost 0-1 (0-0 h, 0-1 a)
2003/04 AS Monaco, lost 3-5 (1-3 a, 2-2
h)
This is Chelsea's 12th semifinal in Uefa club
competition. They have won five of the
previous 11.
Atletico have lost all three of their Uefa club
competition penalty shoot-outs:
6-7 v Derby County, 1974/75 Uefa Cup
second round
1-3 v Fiorentina, 1989/90 Uefa Cup first
round
1-3 v Villarreal CF, 2004 Uefa Intertoto
Cup final
Chelsea's record in European penalty shoot-
outs is:
4-5 v Bayern Munich, 2013 Uefa Super
Cup
4-3 v Bayern Munich, 2011/12
Champions League final
5-6 v Manchester United, 2007/08
Champions League final
1-4 v Liverpool, 2006/07 Champions
League semifinal
Mourinho, who captured the Champions
League with FC Porto (2004) and Inter Milan
(2010), is bidding to become the first
manager to win the European Cup with three
different teams. Only Bob Paisley (Liverpool
1977, 1978, 1981) has won the trophy three
times as a coach.
Mourinho left Inter to join Real Madrid in
2010 and guided his team to the Champions
League semi-finals in each of the next three
seasons, losing to Barcelona (3-1 on
aggregate), Bayern (3-1 on penalties after
3-3 aggregate draw) and Borussia Dortmund
(3-4).
TEAM TIES
Courtois joined Chelsea from KRC Genk in
2011. He has made over 100 Liga
appearances for Atletico and played in the
2012 Super Cup win against the Blues.
Born in the Madrid suburb of Fuenlabrada,
Fernando Torres became Atletico's youngest
captain at 19 and scored 84 goals in 214
Liga appearances for the Rojiblancos before
joining Liverpool in 2007.
Tiago scored four goals in 34 Premier
League games for Chelsea between 2004 and
2006.
Mourinho's record against Atletico with Real
Madrid was W8 D0 L1 . The sole defeat came
in last season's Copa del Rey final at the
Santiago Bernabéu, Diego Simeone's side
winning 2-1 after extra time.
While a Lazio player, Simeone lost against
Mourinho's Porto in the 2002/03 Uefa Cup
semifinals.
Torres and Juanfran were in Spain's
victorious Euro 2012 squad. Koke, Mario
Suárez, Adrián López, Diego Costa, David
Villa and César Azpilicueta are also Spanish
internationals.
David Luiz, Oscar, Ramires, Willian, Filipe
Luís, Miranda and Diego are all Brazil
internationals. Tiago and Hilário have been
capped by Portugal. Courtois, Toby
Alderweireld and Eden Hazard are team-
mates with Belgium.
Azpilicueta won three of his five games
against Atlético for Osasuna between 2007
and 2010.
Villa scored in Valencia's 2-1 Champions
League group stage defeat at home to
Chelsea on 3 October 2007.
Samuel Eto'o scored seven goals in 12
appearances against Atlético for Real
Madrid, Mallorca and Barcelona between
1999 and 2009.
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