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Spurs' record in Europe:-

U.E.F.A Champions League
 
 P  W   D   L   F - A
61 27  14  20 107 - 82

(Finalists 2019)

European Super Cup Finalists 2025
 
European Cup
P   W   D   L   F - A
8   4   1   3  21 - 13
 
(Semi-Finalists 1962)
 
European Cup Winners Cup
 
P   W   D   L   F - A
33  20  5   8  65 - 34
 
(Winners 1963)
 
UEFA Cup/Europa League
 P    W   D   L   F - A
168  98  40  30  343-147 

(Winners 1972, 1984, 2025
 Finalists 1974)

Europa Conference League
 P    W   D   L   F - A
 7    3   1   3  14 - 9  
+ Forfeited one game due to Covid - 09/12/21)

 
Total
 P   W   D   L   F - A
277 152 61  64  548-285

. Champions League standings

Pos              P  W  D  L   F-A   GD  Pts

 4. Spurs        8  5  2  1  17-7   10  17
14. Atletico     8  4  1  3  17-15   2  13


Atletico results to date:-

Liverpool     3-2   Atletico
Atletico      5-1   E. Frankfurt
Arsenal       4-0   Atletico
Atletico      3-1   Union S-G
Atletico      2-1   Inter
PSV           2-3   Atletico
Galatasary    1-1   Atletico
Atletico      1-2   Bodo/Glimt

Play-off round

Club Brugge   3-3   Atletico
Atletico      4-1   Club Brugge

How did we get here?

You might ask how Spurs, a Premier League club battling against relegation, managed to finish fourth in this season's Champions League group phase, four points and ten places above our Round of 16 opponents Atletico Madrid?

A big part of the answer is the rule that keeps us away from fellow English clubs, until the quarter-final stage. Unlike Diego Simeone's Atletico, we did not have to play Liverpool and Arsenal away, which were the Spanish club's first two away games in the league phase of this season's competition. They lost both games.

A good indicator of Atletico's standing is the fact that they despatched Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1, whereas we managed a 2-0 win. Atletico drew away to Galatasaray where we lost 3-2 away in our Europa League campaign last season. The Spanish side beat Club Brugge 4-1 in the second leg of their play-off round after a thrilling 3-3 draw in Belgium.

Galatasary beat Juventus and were our other potential opponents for this stage. The Turkish side will face Liverpool in the other half of the draw.

Atletico are third and well behind Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga. Last Tuesday they progressed to the final of the Copa Del Rey, despite losing 3-0 away to Barcelona in the second leg of the semi-final. Atletico had beaten Barcelona 4-0 at home in the first leg! Simeone told Barcelona coach Hansi Flick, "..hopefully we will meet in the Champions League quarter-finals."

On Saturday Atletico beat 8th-placed Real Sociedad 3-2 at home with goals by Alexander Sorloth and Juventus loanee Nicolas Gonzalez, who scored twice.

One immediately associates 55-year-old Argentinean Simeone with Atletico. He played for them in two spells in the mid-nineties and mid-noughties and has been their manager for over 14 years since December 2011. Simeone won the Europa League in 2012 when Radamel Falcao was in his goal-scoring prime, before beating Chelsea in that year's Super Cup. (Chelsea had finished sixth behind fourth-placed Tottenham that year, but took our Champions League place as winners of that trophy)

With Simeone at the helm, Atletico have won La Liga twice, the Europa League for a second time in 2018 and also a second Super Cup. They finished runners-up in the Champions League in 2014 and 2016 losing to Real Madrid both times. It was their Madrid rivals that knocked Atletico out of last year's Champions League in the Round of 16 in a penalty shoot-out. Conor Gallagher scored Atletico's home goal in a 1-0 win. Gallagher is eligible to play against his former club. He played for England four times whilst with Atletico, and one reason for his return home is his hope to enter Thomas Tuchel's World Cup thinking.

Under Simeone, Atletico have been a permanent fixture in Europe and indeed in the Champions League since 2012. It is remarkable that Spurs have not played in competition against this side since our historic 5-1 European Cup-Winners' Cup win in May 1963. Atletico had won the previous year's final.

Atletico had previously won the Europa League in 2010 when they beat Roy Hodgson's Fulham 2-1 thanks to two goals by Diego Forlan. Former Spur Simon Davies scored Fulham's goal.

Spurs have of course previously visited Atletico's Estadio Riyadh Air Metropolitano when they lost to Liverpool in the 2019 Champions League Final.

Sorloth is Atletico's top league scorer with 10 goals, followed by former Man City player Julian Alvarez, who has 8 league goals. There are naturally familiar names in Simeone's squad such as former Spurs loan player Clement Lenglet, but he hasn't played for three weeks. Antoine Griezmann is 34 now and a veteran with the club in two spells, amounting to 339 league games and 142 La Liga goals. The manager's 23-year-old son Giuliano is a regular in the side on the right side of the attacking midfield.

To be frank, this game (probably our last away game in European competition for at least two years), is an irrelevance considering our league predicament. Cristian Romero will be available and can play in tandem with Micky van de Ven. That will not be possible on Sunday at Anfield thanks to Micky's one-match suspension.

Radu Dragusin and Djed Spence have returned to training. I just hope we come out of this game with a respectable scoreline, and with as many players as possible fit for Sunday at Anfield. Igor Tudor remains in charge at this time.

Referee Serdar Gozubuyuk and his team of officials are all from The Netherlands. We have seen this referee before in March 2021 when we beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-0. Unfortunately, we lost the away game 3-0 and exited the Europa League.

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