Familiar foe Cristiano out to torture Atletico at their impenetrable home fortress

К сожалению, единственный доступный язык для этой страницы – английский.

февраля 20, 2019 подготовил(-а) Ali M.

Темы: Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Simeone, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, UEFA Champions League

The tournament's most successful player and all-time leading scorer is out to end Los Rojiblancos' 22-year unbeaten run.

Wednesday is here and with it comes an intriguing Champions League clash. Man City will take on Schalke in one of two round of 16 games scheduled for today; however, all eyes will be on the other fixture between Atletico Madrid and Juventus.

Had this match-up been made last season, the hype surrounding it would not have reached this high. However, the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo has everyone eagerly awaiting for the Bianconeri to step out on the Wanda Metropolitano.

This reason for this is that the Portuguese icon is a familiar foe for the Rojiblancos. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner crossed paths with the Madrid side on 31 occasions and emerged triumhant in most instances, 14 to be exact.

His goalscoring record against Atletico is impressive, having scored 22 goals across all competitions against them. The 34-year-old is the all-time leading scorer in Madrid Derby history, a figure which accurately represents how often he has tormented Simeone's back four.

Ronaldo is the all-time leading scorer in Madrid Derby history

Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, UEFA Champions League

Additionally, since El Cholo was appointed as the new manager at the Vicente Calderon back in December 2011, no player has scored against his side than Ronaldo with 18 strikes. However, Wednesday's first-leg game will be played at the Wanda Metropolitano, Atletico's almost-impenetrable fortress.

Had it not been for the 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid nearly two weeks back, Griezmann and Co. would have entered this game with an unbeaten home record this season. Nonethless, the fact that only one team has beaten Atletico at Los Rojiblancos' own ground is proof that they are a force to be reckoned with.

Allegri's men will look to pull off something that only Real Madrid has been able to achieve this term -- not even Barcelona or Dortmund were able to triumph at the Wanda Metropolitano. However, their impressive form exceedes even Simeone, as they are unbeaten in their last 12 Champions League knockout stage home games, a run which stretches all the way back to 1996/97.

Cristiano has made only one trip to Atletico's new stadium but failed to score. However, he is very familiar with scoring away goals against the club from the Spanish capital, having bagged 10 already. On Wednesday, he will look to add to that tally.