Despite suffering a 2-1 defeat at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on Tuesday night, Atlético Madrid have “total confidence” that it will overcome Real Madrid and advance to the Champions League quarterfinals next week, according to Marca.
Atletico de Madrid v Real Madrid CF - La Liga EA Sports Atlético and Real Madrid played out a 1-1 draw at the Metropolitano in September.
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Los Rojiblancos are staring down Champions League elimination by its city rivals for the fifth time in Diego Simeone’s 13 full seasons on the touchline — but after Marcos Llorente’s last-ditch block on Vinícius Jr. kept Atlético within a goal halfway through the tie, sources close to the club believe that the support of the Metropolitano will be able deliver Atleti the boost it needs next Wednesday.
Under Simeone, Atlético have faced five scenarios where it returned home needing to overturn a one-goal deficit from the away leg of a Champions League knockout tie. Of the previous four occasions, Atleti completed the comeback thrice — against Bayer Leverkusen (2015 round of 16), FC Barcelona (2016 quarterfinals), and Inter Milan (2024 round of 16). Meanwhile, Real Madrid have taken a one-goal lead into the away leg on five occasions since the 1996 edition, and Los Blancos have been eliminated four times in spite of that advantage.
Julián Álvarez: “I leave with frustration because we could have avoided their goals by defending better. With a lot of faith, hard work, and humility, we WILL turn this around.”@ESPNArgentina pic.twitter.com/mZZUx1BK36
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) March 5, 2025
Atlético limited Real Madrid to 0.68 expected goals on Tuesday, but the Colochoneros were undone by defensive slip-ups as Rodrygo Goes and Brahim Díaz found the net either side of halftime. Julián Alvarez’s magnificent 32nd-minute strike though is another reason for Atleti to hope that this time against Real Madrid will be different; La Araña is Atleti’s top scorer in the Champions League, and only three players in this year’s competition have found the net more often.
The eventual winner of the Real Madrid - Atlético tie will face Arsenal in the quarterfinal round, the Gunners all but sealing a place in the last eight after crushing PSV Eindhoven 7-1 on Tuesday. But first, Atleti have to take care of Getafe in LaLiga on Sunday, Simeone’s men knowing that a victory at the Coliseum could take them top of the league pending other results.