An impressive European run by Atlético Madrid came to an end, as the “Roji-Blancos” suffered their first home loss to a German team in 30 years.
Diego Simeone’s team had established a true tradition against German clubs, remaining undefeated in their previous 16 home European matches against them.
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This statistic was one of Atlético’s major “weapons” ahead of their match against Bayern Munich at the “Riyadh Air Metropolitano,” with Simeone having emphasized on the eve of the match just how demanding the challenge would be.
“Bayern is one of the best teams in the world, with fantastic players. It will be a real challenge to see how far we can go,” the Argentine coach had stated.
Atlético entered the match in excellent form in domestic competitions, with seven consecutive wins in LaLiga and six clean sheets in their previous nine games.
Meanwhile, in the Champions League, they were seeking their second win in the group stage, having already defeated Manchester United 2-0.
Simeone had even described, in his own words, the ideal scenario against the Bavarians: “Ideally, I’d like us to attack for 80 minutes and let them have the last ten. The reality, however, is different, and we have to deal with whatever the game throws at us.”
*photo source: AR
