Atlético Madrid remain Barcelona’s Champions League kryptonite as semifinal path opens again

Barcelona were many people’s favorites to progress to the Champions League semifinals at the expense of Atlético Madrid, and it still could happen. Yet a controversial 2-0 win at Spotify Camp Nou on Wednesday means Diego Simeone’s side are firmly in the driving seat and just one solid performance away from continuing their remarkable record against Barça in Europe’s top club competition.

A rivalry tilted toward Atlético in Europe

Atleti, of course, have been mixing it with Spain’s big two for much of “El Cholo’s” tenure, which spans more than 14 years. Two LaLiga titles against the odds are Simeone’s standout achievements, although the misery his teams have inflicted on Barcelona in the Champions League should not be overlooked.

Atlético and Barça have been drawn together in the quarterfinals of the competition three times, and it has been one-way traffic so far. Just not in the direction most would have expected.

2013-14: the breakthrough that stunned Barcelona

In 2013-14, the season Atleti won their first LaLiga title since 1995-96, Lionel Messi, Neymar, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Co. could only muster one solitary goal in two legs against a peak Atlético side. Simeone’s team snatched the lead at Camp Nou in a 1-1 draw before going in front in the first five minutes of the return leg at the Vicente Calderón.

In those days, if there was one team you would bet your life on to keep a clean sheet for 85-plus minutes, it was Simeone’s Atlético Madrid. So it proved.

Atleti ultimately reached the final in Lisbon and would have lifted the Champions League trophy for the first time had it not been for Sergio Ramos’ 93rd-minute equalizer for Real Madrid. The rest is history.

2015-16: history repeats itself

Two seasons later, history repeated itself. Barcelona had added Luis Suárez to their arsenal, and the Uruguayan scored twice in the first leg in Catalonia after Fernando Torres had opened the scoring and then, crucially, been sent off for Atlético.

But there was another twist, this time at the Calderón, where an Antoine Griezmann double saw Simeone’s team through to another semifinal. Atleti would progress to a second final in three years, where they would again lose in heartbreaking fashion, this time in a penalty shootout to their city rivals in Milan.

First-leg advantage changes the script

For the first time in the Barça-Atleti Champions League series, the men from Madrid have done the hardest work first, winning the first leg away from home. Not for the first time, they could be about to inflict more European pain on Barcelona, who continue to search for answers to the Atlético Madrid question.

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