Atletico Madrid's CURIOUS streak that WORRIES Diego Simeone
The Argentinian coach is surely unhappy with this unexpected streak that his side are going through
It has always been a daunting challenge for European teams to visit Atlético Madrid at their stadium. Since Diego Simeone took over, first the Vicente Calderón and then the Estadio Metropolitano have at times turned into an agony for the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Juventus, Chelsea and other legendary teams.
Atlético Madrid's old home, the Estadio Vicente Calderón
Between September 2017 and October 2020, Simeone's side won nine and drew two at home in European competitions to seal that reputation, but after that things have gone in the other direction.
Atletico's win 3-2 against Salzburg on October 27, 2020 was their last in the Metropolitano in the Champions League, and in the past seven games, Atlético has failed to make it better than a draw at home against Lokomotiv, Bayern, Porto, Manchester United, and Manchester City and has lost to Milan (0-1) and Liverpool (2-3) in the worst group stage at home in the entire Simeone era.
With this context, Atletico is looking to go back to the old ways in their Champions League debut against Porto, although they will miss some of their fans. The Colchoneros won't be able to have their stadium at full capacity due to a UEFA ban that has been in place since last season and requires them to close a section with "at least 5,000 seats" due to gestures done by their fans at Manchester City's Etihad Stadium last April.
The Estadio Metropolitano won't be at it's full 68,000 capacity for the Colchoneros' clash against Porto
Originally, the punishment was supposed to be served in the second leg against City, but there wasn't much time to organize it after all the tickets had been sold, so Atlético Madrid won the right to postpone it until their following game. Now, the Colchoneros want to reclaim their reputation despite the fans that will be missing from the stands.
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