Opposition analysis: Simeone's battle-hardy troop | OneFootball

Champions League clash v Atletico Madrid ahead

Atletico Madrid is a name that conjures up the same image for many - a real workers' club! The fact that Chinese investors and an Israeli billionaire have got involved at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano Stadium recently does not detract from that too much at the historic side from the Spanish capital.

The Derbi madrileño still has its reputation of being a bourgeoisie v working class clash with the Atletico fans tending to get fired up and emotional. They showed just how incredible an atmosphere they can create a few days ago when recovering against Bayer Leverkusen with ten men to turn a 0-1 deficit into a last-minute win. The Red and Whites have not always been at the elite of Spanish football. The first of a total of 11 league titles was won by Club Atletico de Madrid - founded in 1903 - in 1940, while the European Cup Winners' Cup win in 1962 and World Club Cup win in 1974 saw them make a name for themselves internationally. At the end of the 1990s, the club suffered a crisis that sent them down to the second division briefly before they regained their status a few years later. Los Rojiblancos have enjoyed their greatest-ever spell since 2011 under the aegis of a man whose name is synonymous with Atletico Madrid - Diego Simeone.

Simeone managed to break the seemingly endless dominance of Real Madrid and Barcelona when his team won the Spanish title in 2014 (a feat they would repeat in 2021). He also secured two UEFA Europa League wins in 2012 and 2018.

His playing style has often been more about hard work than aesthetically pleasing football. Antoine Griezmann, Conor Gallagher & Co often line up in a 4-4-2 or a 5-4-1, with defensive stability the focus. The Madrid side have a proud tradition of emphasising keeping things tight at the back, with Abel Resino back in 1990/91 achieving a La Liga record of 1,275 minutes of play without conceding. Back in the here and now, the side currently second in the league has - surprise, surprise - conceded the fewest goals in their domestic league (13 in 20 appearances). We faced Atletico twice in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League group stage, and in a friendly match a year later we even took a 1-0 win in our Red Bull Arena against Simeone's side. Can that be the blueprint for a successful end to our Champions League campaign on Wednesday? Anyone yet to secure their seat can still do that in our online Ticket Shop! Tickets are available on open sale.

this way to the Ticket Shop!