The Athletic always is louder at home. The rojiblanco team established a fort in Vicente Calderón with the arrival of Simeone to the bench and transferred him to the Wanda Metropolitano, where Atlético was the best venue in LaLiga last season despite playing without fans in the stands due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
And in the Champions League, the mattress set only they have lost three matches at their stadium in their nine consecutive seasons in Europe’s top competition (The course fell at home in the second round against Chelsea, but playing in Bucharest). One of those defeats occurred in Atlético’s last match at the Wanda Metropolitano in the Champions League, against Liverpool after recovering to the initial 0-2 and reaching the tie, but falling for a penalty in the final stretch of the match after Griezmann’s red in the 52nd minute.
That 2-3 against the English, coupled with the goalless draw against Porto, It has caused Atlético to face the last match of the group stage of the Champions League at the Wanda Metropolitano with a single point added against their people. And against Milan only victory is contemplated. With Cholo at the helm, Atlético has never closed a Champions League group stage without at least one win in their stadium. The closest time he was was in the 2017-18 season, in which, after having lost in the stadium’s debut in the Champions League against Chelsea, there was a draw against Qarabag which ended up condemning the team to the Europa League, but after beating Roma 2-0 at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Taking stock, Atlético defeated at home in the group stage Zenit, Austria from Vienna and Porto in the 2013-14 season, Juventus, Malmoe and Olympiacos in 2014-15, Astana and Galatasaray in 2015-16, Bayern, Rostov and PSV in 2016-17, Rome in 2017-18, the first in the Wanda Metropolitano, Bruges, Borussia Dortmund and Monaco in 2018-19, Bayer Leverkusen and Lokomotiv in the 19-20 and Salzburg Last season.
