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As Alvaro Morata raced past the Liverpool defence to unleash a confident shot that beat Adrian for the third time on the night, it was heartening to see the exuberant celebrations from Diego Simeone and the rest of the Atletico Madrid bench. They are a group of players who are acutely aware of their strengths and weaknesses and have raised the flag for the underdog consistently for nearly a decade that Diego Simeone has been at the helm.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp wasn't all that gracious in the post-match interview, lamenting that Atleti did not play what he considered to be 'proper football'. Klopp's comments were more or less dismissed as 'sour grapes' by the football world, with the Guardian even going on criticize the Liverpool boss by branding his attack on Simeone's methods as 'football snobbery'.
The fact remains that Liverpool has assembled a far costlier squad than Atleti's and Klopp has no right to demand that Atleti should play in a way that makes it easier for Liverpool to break them down.
Simeone's Atleti has particularly been an albatross to the financially rich English Premier League clubs over the years, with their victory over Liverpool just the latest in a string of European knockout ties that Atleti has successfully manoeuvred. In fact, no English club has ever defeated Atleti in a European knockout tie. This list takes a look at all the European knockout matches involving Simeone's Atletico Madrid against British clubs.
1. Atleti 4-2 Liverpool (agg) | Champions League 2019/20
Beginnning with the most recent one, Liverpool were flying high when they travelled to the Wanda Metropolitano for the first leg Champions League Round of 16 tie on February 18. The Mersey side club were the heavy favourites, being the defending champions as well as enjoying an unbeaten season in the Premier League.
However, a 4th-minute goal from Saul Niguez gave Atleti a narrow 1-0 victory, with Liverpool frustrated about their inability to score an away goal. The match affected Liverpool's psyche, with them losing two more matches in quick succession, surrendering their unbeaten Premier League status with a loss to Watford and exiting the FA Cup at the hands of Chelsea.
Liverpool welcomed Atleti to Anfield a fortnight later, with the bookies predicting that Klopp's side would easily overturn the first-leg deficit. A Gigi Wijnaldum goal cancelled out Atleti's advantage before half time and the tie went to extra time.
Roberto Firminho put the Reds 2-0 up on the night with a 94th-minute goal, but Marcos Llorente stunned the Kop with two goals in seven minutes as a shell shocked Liverpool ended the first period of extra time requiring two more goals to go through. None came for them in the second period and when substitute Alvaro Morata finished a typical Atleti counter-attack to score the third goal for Los Colchoneros in the final seconds of the game, Klopp's despair was complete.
2. Atleti 2-1 Arsenal (agg) | Europa League 2017/18
2017-18 Champions League saw Atleti exit the Champions League at the group stage, with AS Roma and Chelsea condemning Simeone's men to the Europa League. The season also saw Simeone lose to an English Club for the first time when Chelsea triumphed at the Vicente Calderon.
But disaster turned in to title triumph as Atleti dominated Europe's second-tier club competition, thrashing Copenhagen 5-1 and Lokomotiv Moscow 8-1 on aggregate as Simeone's men set up a semi-final encounter with fellow favourites Arsenal.
The first leg at the Emirates saw Arsenal take the lead through Alexander Lacazette, but Antoine Griezmann punished a nervous Arsenal backline to give Atleti a precious away goal.
In the second leg at the Calderon, Atleti produced yet another defensive masterclass and a goal from Arsenal's old foe Diego Costa gave the Spaniards the lead in first-half injury time. It was an advantage that they protected for the rest of the night as they sealed a place in the title match. That final would see Griezmann score a double as Atleti sealed the European title with a 3-0 rout of Marseille.
3. Atleti 2-1 Leicester (agg) | Champions League 2016-17
Leicester City made history in 2016 with a truly inspiring underdog run to the top of the English Premier League. The unprecedented triumph gave them an opportunity to compete in the Champions League for the first time and they made the most of the opportunity.
Jamie Vardy and co. scored victories over the like of Porto and Sevilla to reach the quarter-finals where they ran into Simeone's Atleti. Leicester were never likely to score in the first leg at the Calderon and Antoine Griezmann was once again the difference-maker, beating Kasper Schmeichel from the spot to give Atleti a 1-0 first-leg win.
Leicester came out all guns blazing in the return leg, but Simeone's game plan to counter-attack worked again as Saul Niguez gave Atleti the lead. This left Leicester needing three goals to proceed and that seemed near impossible against the organised Atleti backline. Even though Jamie Vardy pulled one back, Atleti had done enough to proceed.
4. Atleti 3-1 Chelsea (agg) Champions League 2013-14
The greatest season for Simeone's Atleti, 2013-14 saw the Madrid side capture the La Liga title with a sensational performance to hold out Barcelona in the final match of the season. It also saw them reach the Champions League final against bitter rivals Real where a heartbreaking late equalizer led to a 4-1 extra-time loss.
But along the way, Atleti had beaten multiple heavyweights in the Champions League, including the likes of A.C Milan, Barcelona, and Chelsea. The semi-final against Jose Mourinho's Chelsea was particularly exciting, with Simeone's team getting stifled at the Calderon. Chelsea seemed to have the tie in the bag when Atleti uncharacteristically failed to score at their own stadium, settling for 0-0 draw.
This meant that Atleti had to score at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, which was renowned as a fortress under Mourinho. The early signs were ominous and when former Atleti golden boy Fernando Torres put Chelsea in front in the 36th minute, there seemed to be no way back.
But Adrian Lopez equalized a minute before half time and suddenly Atleti held the advantage on away goals. Needing another goal, Mourinho introduced Cameroon forward Samuel Eto'o. However, Etoo's first contribution in the match was to foul Diego Costa inside the penalty area mere minutes after coming on. Costa dusted himself up and converted the penalty to put Simeone's side 2-1 up.
When Arda Turan added a third in the 72nd minute, the travelling Atleti fans knew that they were witnessing the making of something special.
5. Atleti 4-1 Chelsea UEFA Super Cup 2012
When Atletico Madrid met Chelsea in the annual European curtain-raiser in 2012, both clubs were coming off highly productive seasons. Chelsea had finally delivered the Champions League, beating Bayern Munich on penalties whereas Atleti had taken the first steps of their resurrection under Diego Simeone, entering the Europa League in the third qualifying round and navigating 19 matches in Europe en route to winning the title against Athletic Bilbao.
The two sides met at Monaco's Stade Louis II with Simeone matching wits with Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo. It was a Colombian who took the center stage though, as Radamel Falcao chose the match to announce himself before the English footballing world.
It took 'El Tigre' just five minutes to disrupt the calm of Petr Cech's net. Two more goals followed in the first half as Falcao completed his hattrick en route to a man of the match performance. Joao Miranda would strike in the second half to put Atleti 4-0 up before Gary Cahill reduced the deficit 15 minutes from time with a consolation goal.
It was Atleti's second Super Cup in three years, and it was just a sign of things to come under Simeone.
