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Nevertheless, Atlético hope to reach the last four of the UCL for the fourth time under Diego Simeone. Having achieved the feat already in 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2016-17, the only manager to get to the semis on more occasions with the same team is Alex Ferguson with Manchester United (seven).
That impressive one-club record embodies the commitment Simeone has shown to the red side of the Spanish capital, though Carlo Ancelotti has also reached the semis four times.
It won’t come as a huge surprise if Atlético do get past Dortmund, though, as they’ve been ahead for 512 minutes of their 2023-24 Champions League campaign, more than any other side. Along with Man City (51%), they are the only two teams to have been leading for more than half of their total game time in the competition this term (57% for the La Liga side).
That productivity can be partly credited to the impressive Antoine Griezmann, whose 23 chances created in this year’s Champions League can only be bettered by Barcelona’s Ilkay Gündogan (24).
Indeed, the Frenchman teed up Lino’s strike in the first leg as part of six chances created, his most in a single Champions League outing for Atlético across 72 appearances. However, Edin Terzić’s side have their own attacking stars who could turn this contest around ahead of a potential semi-final meeting with.
Jadon Sancho recorded 12 dribbles at the Metropolitano, the most by any player in the Champions League knockouts this season. In fact, the last three occasions of an Englishman recording 12+ dribbles in a game in the competition have all come from Sancho: 13 vs Zenit St Petersburg in October 2020 for Dortmund, 12 for Manchester United vs Atlético in March 2022 and 12 in the first leg.
