Cristiano Ronaldo will almost certainly be in Ralf Rangnick’s starting eleven for Wednesday’s Round of 16 Champions League match against Spanish La Liga champions, Atletico Madrid.
While this is only the second meeting between the two sides since the 1991/92 European Cup Winners’ Cup, Ronaldo is no stranger to Diego Simeone and his players.
Apart from the fact that they frequently met in La Liga games, Ronaldo was a member of the Real Madrid team that twice denied Atletico Madrid the most coveted trophy in European football.
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In a 4-1 comeback win in 2014, Ronaldo scored a 120th-minute penalty to seal Atletico’s fate, and two years later, he scored the winning penalty in a 5-3 victory.
His stats against Atletico Madrid are impressive:
25 goals
35 games
9 assists
4 hattricks
In his career, the Portuguese has scored more goals against Atletico Madrid than against any other club.
Even after joining Juventus, Ronaldo continued to torment Atletico Madrid. During the 2018/19 season, the two teams met in the Round of 16 and he scored a hat trick to overturn a 2-0 first-leg loss.
Ronaldo almost got himself into trouble after scoring the third goal by imitating Diego Simeone’s ‘cojones’ celebration from the first leg.
“It is difficult to prepare for a player like Cristiano,” Simeone said ahead of Atletico Madrid’s Champions League group-stage match against Juventus in 2019. In front of the goal, he is a beast.
“He has an incredible track record and is always difficult to control in a goal-scoring situation.” He has previously caused us to suffer.”
Although the 37-year-old is not the same player he was in 2018, he is still lethal in front of goal and has only recently ended a six-game goal drought, in addition to his impressive outing of six goals in five Champions League matches this season.
Possible line-ups
Atletico: Oblak; Vrsaljko, Felipe, Savi, Reinildo; Llorente, Herrera, Kondogbia, Lodi; Matheus Cunha, Joo Félix
Man. United: De Gea; Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Pogba; Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Sancho; Ronaldo
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