Quite a coincidence, Chelsea and Manchester City both have to go to Madrid to play the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final 24 hours apart.
In the early morning of April 13 (Vietnam time), although Chelsea lost the final, Chelsea left a truly emotional match against Real Madrid. However, if the question for Chelsea is what they need to do to come back from the first leg of the defeat, for Man City, what should Pep Guardiola and his students worry about?
Man City had a 1-0 advantage at the Etihad. They arrived in Madrid and prepared a plan to face Atletico to attack, not to take the penalty like in England last week. And while it is unknown how Los Rojiblancos will attack, the concern for Man City is Atletico's home ground. At the former Vicente Calderon or the current Wanda Metropolitano, coach Diego Simeone has transformed into fortresses in the knockout rounds.
Statistics show that, since taking over Atletico, Simeone has not only improved the team but also maintained an unbeaten result at home in the knockout rounds of the Champions League. Those are 9 wins and 5 draws.
Of the 9 wins, only Real Madrid's win at Calderon was ineffective because it was not enough to make a comeback. The rest is to win the first leg or come back. Those 8 wins made Atletico an extremely difficult home team.
In the 5 draws, only 1 time Atletico was eliminated - also against Real Madrid in the 2014-15 season. Simeone and his students drew 0-0 in the first leg and lost 0-1 at the Bernabeu with the only goal by Javier Hernandez.
Atletico beat the mighty Barcelona in Madrid twice and both times they reached the final. That was in 2013-14, with a score of 1-0 after a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou, and in 2015-16, with a 2-0 victory after a 1-2 loss in the first leg.
Man City is now likened to the Barca of that period, with beautiful possession and attack play. Winning against Atletico's defensive policy at the Etihad does not mean that it will happen again in Madrid. Guardiola has played for Barca, Bayern at Calderon and Metropolitano, so he must understand the challenges ahead for Man City.
Pep will have to remind his students that AC Milan, Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid, PSV Eindhoven, Bayern, Leicester City, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester United, no team left Atletico's field with a victory. Notably, El Cholo's Atletico always win at home after losing in the first leg. Not only in the Champions League, Atletico also beat Arsenal 1-0 in the Europa League at home to reach the final...
At Metropolitano, Atletico always received strong support from their fans to add motivation and create many extremely impressive nights. On the contrary, in recent years, Man City has been haunted by psychological problems, having been eliminated by underrated opponents such as AS Monaco, Lyon, Tottenham...
