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Atlético aim to subject Milan to more pain in Spain

Club Atlético de Madrid hold the edge as they look for their first quarter-final appearance in 17 years against an AC Milan side with a poor recent history in Spain.

Background: Club Atlético de Madrid v AC Milan ©AFP/Getty Images

Club Atlético de Madrid will look to book their first UEFA Champions League quarter-final appearance in 17 years when they host AC Milan in the second leg of their last-16 tie.

• The Spanish side hold the advantage in the tie thanks to Diego Costa's late header at San Siro, meaning Milan must do what only two teams have managed in UEFA Champions League history – recover from a home first-leg defeat to win the tie.

• Atlético coach Diego Simeone was playing for the club when they last reached the last eight in 1997. This time Atlético reached the last 16 as Group G winners, while Milan finished as Group H runners-up behind FC Barcelona. Moreover, the Rojiblancos are on an impressive run of home form in European competition while Milan have struggled in recent matches in Spain.

Match background
• Atlético have won 15 of their last 16 home games in UEFA competition, including three straight victories in this season's group stage. The only blip was a 2-0 loss to FC Rubin Kazan in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 in February 2013.

• Seven-time European Cup winners Milan were last quarter-finalists two years ago, but are trying to avoid an unwanted hat-trick of UEFA Champions League exits on Spanish soil following defeats by Barcelona in the last eight in 2011/12 and the round of 16 last year.

• Milan's last four away defeats in European competition have all come in Spain. Having lost 3-1 at Barcelona in 2011/12, last term they lost 1-0 at Málaga CF in the group stage and 4-0 at Barcelona in that aforementioned quarter-final, while this season they went down 3-1 to Barcelona in the group stage.

• Milan's overall away record against teams from Spain is W4 D6 L15. The Rossoneri have not won on any of their last six visits, their last success coming in the 2009/10 group stage when Pato's 88th-minute strike sealed a 3-2 victory at Real Madrid CF.

• Milan have also lost their last four knockout ties against Spanish opponents, including defeats by Barcelona in the 2005/06 semi-finals and RC Deportivo La Coruña in the 2003/04 quarter-finals.

• Atlético's home record against teams from Italy is W5 D0 L3. Diego Godín was on the scoresheet when they last welcomed Italian visitors, earning a 1-0 success over SS Lazio that completed a 4-1 aggregate triumph in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League round of 32.

• The omens are not promising for Milan's chances of turning round the tie. Of the six previous occasions they have lost the first leg at home in UEFA competition they have won only once, against 1. FC Saarbrücken in the 1955/56 European Cup first round, Milan's first European tie, when a 4-3 defeat in Italy was followed by a 4-1 away success.

• Atlético, meanwhile, have won all 19 UEFA competition ties in which they won the away first leg, including against FC Carl Zeiss Jena (1961/62) and Fyllingen IL (1991/92) when they triumphed 1-0.

• Atlético have lost all three of their penalty shoot-outs in UEFA club competition:
6-7 v Derby County FC, 1974/75 UEFA Cup second round
1-3 v ACF Fiorentina, 1989/90 UEFA Cup first round
1-3 v Villarreal CF, 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup final

• Milan's shoot-out record is:
2-3 v Liverpool FC, 2004/05 UEFA Champions League final
3-2 v Juventus, 2002/03 UEFA Champions League final
7-6 v FK Lokomotiva Košice, 1978/79 UEFA Cup first round

Team ties
• Coaches Clarence Seedorf and Diego Simeone were well acquainted as players. They met for the first time in a Madrid derby with Seedorf's Merengues prevailing 3-1 at home on 14 June 1997.

• Seedorf was an unused substitute for the Netherlands team that beat Simeone's Argentina 2-1 in the 1998 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals. The following season the pair met in the UEFA Champions League group stage, Seedorf scoring the second goal in Madrid's 2-0 home win over Simeone's Inter in September 1998 and striking again in a 3-1 defeat at San Siro two months later.

• When Seedorf was at Inter, he lost the Coppa Italia to Simeone's Lazio 2-1 over two legs in 2000. Both players registered in the first meeting, Simeone scoring what turned out to be the decisive goal after Seedorf's opener had been cancelled out by Pavel Nedvěd.

• Seedorf also lost the 2000 Italian Super Cup 4-3 to Simeone's Lazio. He watched on from the bench in May 2002 when Inter suffered a 4-2 last-day defeat away to Lazio in Rome that cost the Milan club the Scudetto, Simeone scoring one of the goals.

• In four years at Madrid (1996-2000), Seedorf appeared in seven Liga derbies against Atlético, winning three and losing two, and scoring twice. In January 1997 he marked his Madrid derby debut with an 84th-minute goal at the Vicente Calderón in a 4-1 triumph.

• Simeone spent two years as a player in Milan with Inter between 1997 and 1999. In that time he won the 1997/98 UEFA Cup and scored in two derbies against the Rossoneri – hitting the opening goal in a 2-2 draw on 22 November 1997, and two more in Inter's 3-0 victory on 22 March 1998.

• Simeone also had spells in Italy with AC Pisa 1909 (1990-92) and Lazio (1999-2003) where he won the Serie A title in 2000. He had a spell coaching Calcio Catania in 2011, losing a home league fixture 2-0 to Milan in January that year.

• Christian Abbiati made 21 Liga appearances for Atlético during a loan spell from Milan in 2007/08.

• A Real Madrid player from 2009 to 2013, Kaká scored five minutes into his derby debut, a 3-2 victory at Atlético in November 2009. All three of his league derby appearances came at the Vicente Calderón and all ended in victory. Robinho won all four derbies against Atlético during his three seasons in Madrid (2005-08).

• Cristián Zapata spent 2011/12 at Villarreal CF, suffering home and away defeats against Atlético. The on-loan Adil Rami has been at Valencia CF since 2011, and was part of the team that lost 4-2 away and 1-0 at home against Atlético in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League semi-finals.

• Tiago played for Juventus between 2007 and 2010. Just one of his 42 Serie A appearances came against Milan, a 3-2 home victory in April 2008. He had faced Milan in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals with Olympique Lyonnais, playing in a 0-0 first-leg draw in France but missing the ensuing defeat at San Siro.

• David Villa struck the third goal in Milan's 4-0 loss at Barcelona last season and also had success against the Rossoneri in 2011/12, scoring in a 2-2 home draw and featuring in a 3-2 away win.

• Villa was in the Spain team that beat Nigel de Jong's Netherlands 1-0 in the 2010 FIFA World Cup final.

• Michael Essien was in the Real Madrid side that lost last season's Copa del Rey final to Atlético, going down 2-1 in extra time at the Santiago Bernabéu. He had played in Madrid's 2-1 away Liga win on 27 April.

• Toby Alderweireld and Urby Emanuelson played together at AFC Ajax from 2008 to 2011. They were in the Ajax side that won 2-0 at Milan in the 2010/11 group stage, Alderweireld scoring the second goal.

• Ignazio Abate, Mario Balotelli and Riccardo Montolivo were in the Italy team beaten 4-0 by Spain in the UEFA EURO 2012 final.

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