Manchester, Feb 23 (BUS): There is no competition that brings Cristiano Ronaldo to life more than the Champions League.
And there is no team that makes Ronaldo come alive more than Atletico Madrid.
So Diego Simeone and his players can be forgiven for feeling a certain amount of trepidation when Ronaldo arrives at the Wanda Metropolitano in Wednesday’s round of 16 match between Atletico and Manchester United, although the Portugal star – aged 37 – was not as strong. The nature that has caused so much pain to the Spanish club in the Champions League over the past decade.
From 2014-19, when Ronaldo played for Real Madrid and then Juventus, he was part of the teams that ended Atletico’s ambitions for a Champions League title in five of the six seasons. The other season, Atletico did not reach the knockout stage, the Associated Press reported.
Ronaldo scored a hat-trick for Real (2017) and Juventus (2019) against Atletico, and about the penalty kick in the penalty shootout between rivals Madrid in the 2016 final. Don’t forget also his celebrations by flexing his muscles after the late penalty kick in overtime from the 2014 final between the two teams that eliminated Atletico.
Until 2020, Simeone had only lost in the Champions League knockout rounds to a team including Ronaldo.
Well, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick against Atletico in La Liga in 2012 and 2016.
“He did a lot of damage to us in our previous meetings,” Atletico striker Angel Correa told Spanish sports newspaper Marca on Tuesday.
Wednesday’s match will be the first time Ronaldo and Atletico have met since a Champions League match in November 2019, when Simeone said of the then-Juventus striker: “He’s No. 1”.
Since then, Ronaldo has become the top scorer in Champions League history with 140 – 15 more than Lionel Messi and 58 more than the next player on the list, Robert Lewandowski.
And the fires are burning inside Ronaldo more than ever in the nights of the Champions League.
Achieving goals hasn’t been so easy since returning to United last year, as the team endured a turbulent season that saw a change of coach. In fact, Ronaldo has only one goal in his last eight matches in all competitions, making it one of his youngest stints since he became a scoring machine in the latter part of his first spell with United from 2003-2009.
However, Ronaldo scored in all five group matches he played in, including a late winner against Villarreal and Atalanta at home and a draw in injury time at Atalanta. He lives for the big stage and the big moments, so he will enjoy returning to Madrid to play with his favorite opponent.
United midfielder Bruno Fernandes said in a video call on Tuesday: “Cristiano has won this competition many times, and everyone knows that in this type of competition he has the smell of goal, that smell of doing different things.”
An injury to fellow striker Edinson Cavani and Mason Greenwood’s continued absence have led Ronaldo to start in United’s last three matches, playing 90 minutes in two of them and 85 in the other. United have been keen to avoid overplaying Ronaldo this season, leaving him out of some matches.
Starting four matches in 12 days is not ideal for Ronaldo, even if his intensity and level of fitness are amazing for a player of his age.
However, don’t expect him to be out of the squad on Wednesday, when Ronaldo and United face a once vaunted defense – the basis of Simeone’s success during his decade in charge – that has shown a rare fragility this season. .
He has gone from leading La Liga in the number of goals conceded – 25 in 38 games in 2020-21 – to letting go of 34 goals in 25 rounds so far, which is a big factor behind his 12 losses this season compared to just 8 defeats in all competition. The last campaign.
Defending their La Liga title in tatters – the team is 15 points behind first-placed Real – and knocked out of the Copa del Rey, Atlético’s only chance of winning the title this season is the Champions League.
The same can be said for United as well, with the title out of reach in the Premier League and Rangnick’s side out of both domestic cup competitions.
“Mentally speaking, we need to be prepared for a very emotional, even hostile atmosphere on the field,” Rangnick said of Wednesday’s game. “Some of our players will not be greeted with a red carpet.”
Especially Ronaldo.