{"id":897762,"date":"2026-04-08T12:16:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/the-numbers-speak-for-themselves-simeone-revels-in-atleticos-champions-league-heroics\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:16:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:16:41","slug":"the-numbers-speak-for-themselves-simeone-revels-in-atleticos-champions-league-heroics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/the-numbers-speak-for-themselves-simeone-revels-in-atleticos-champions-league-heroics\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00b4The numbers speak for themselves\u00b4 \u2013 Simeone revels in Atletico\u00b4s Champions League heroics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Diego Simeone said the numbers do not lie about his success in the Champions League after guiding Atletico Madrid to yet another quarter-final in the competition. <\/p>\n

Atletico reached the last eight of UEFA\u2019s flagship competition despite a 3-2 loss to Tottenham in the second leg on Wednesday, with the damage done in Madrid eight days\u2019 ago. <\/p>\n

The LaLiga side emerged 7-5 victors on aggregate, coming back from behind twice at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before Xavi Simons\u2019 late penalty sealed the win for the hosts. <\/p>\n

Simeone has now progressed from eight different Champions League last 16 knockout ties, as many as Jose Mourinho and behind only Pep Guardiola (14) and Carlo Ancelotti (13) in Champions League history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are times when it is not necessary to talk, the numbers speak for themselves,\u201d Simeone told reporters about his latest achievement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to give the greatest energy we have, the quality to reinvent ourselves. The effort made an enormous effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team did not start well, the three-goal advantage did not come well. We equalised, it was 2-1, we equalised, we had situations to close and the final penalty came.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

31 \u2013 Atl\u00e9tico Madrid have scored 31 goals in 12 matches in the 2025\/26 @ChampionsLeague<\/a>, their highest tally in a single edition of the competition in their history.<\/p>\n

Punch. pic.twitter.com\/BH9M26tJmk<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 OptaJose (@OptaJose) March 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But not only are those numbers impressive, but with their two goals against Spurs, only Paris Saint-Germain (34) and Bayern Munich (32) have netted more than Atletico\u2019s 31 in the Champions League in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

In addition, the only two occasions Atletico have scored as many as seven goals on aggregate in a Champions League tie have been in their last two ties this season, having previously beaten Club Brugge 7-4 in the play-offs. <\/p>\n

And their reward is yet another clash with Barcelona, having already played the Blaugrana three times this campaign, the latest of which saw Simeone\u2019s side knock them out in the Copa del Rey semi-finals over two legs. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it\u2019s a moment to be happy as a club, as a team, with the joy of our people, who will take this step to the quarter-finals,\u201d Simeone added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you enter here the road will be hard, as in previous situations when we reached the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have to compete like this. It will be difficult because we will face the team in Europe that attacks the best, but we will be excited to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was also a special outing for Julian Alvarez, who became just the fourth player to score and assist in both legs of a Champions League knockout tie (two goals, one assist in first leg, 1 goal, 1 assist in second leg).<\/p>\n

The others are Alessandro Del Piero (1997-98 semi-final, Juventus vs Monaco), Kaka (2011-12 quarter-final, Real Madrid vs APOEL) and Robert Lewandowski (2019-20 last 16, Bayern Munich vs Chelsea).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew it wouldn\u2019t be easy against a complicated team who play very well,\u201d Alvarez said of Atletico\u2019s display. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut with the three-goal advantage from the first leg, we knew how to control the tempo of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe obviously wanted to win on the night, and had opportunities to do so, but we\u2019re happy to go through to the quarter-finals.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

SoccerNews
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diego Simeone said the numbers do not lie about his success in the Champions League after guiding Atletico Madrid to yet another quarter-final in the competition. Atletico reached the last eight of UEFA\u2019s flagship competition despite a 3-2 loss to Tottenham in the second leg on Wednesday, with the damage done in Madrid eight days\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":897763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4948,243],"tags":[42747,7220],"class_list":{"0":"post-897762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the","8":"category-numbers","9":"tag-the","10":"tag-numbers"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}