Atletico Madrid in Champions League: Three times being the runners-up and never won the UCL

What have Atletico Madrid achieved in the history of the Champions League?

Overview

With a glance at what Atletico Madrid have achieved in the UEFA Champions League, we can see that their highest finish in this prestigious European football competition has been the runner-up, in three seasons (1973-74, 2013-14, and 2015-16). This is not an impressive result for a club that have won 11 La Liga titles. 

Atletico didn’t appear in the inaugural season of the European Cup. They started their journey in this continental competition three years after the inception of the European Cup in 1955. Their European Cup debut was in the 1958-59 season, in which Atletico Madrid finished in the semi-finals. They successfully surpassed Drumcondra in the preliminary round with a 13-1 aggregate win after two-legged ties. They reached the semi-finals but lost to Real Madrid in extra time. 

This Spanish football club haven’t joined the UCL continuously. After their first season in the European Cup, Atletico disappeared and returned to the competition in the 1966-67 season with an impressive performance. They ended their path to the final right from the second round, in which Atletico and Vojvodina scored the same number of goals, but they lost to their opponent by a 2-3 play-off match. 

The first time Atletico reached the finals was in the 1973-74 season. They met the Bundesliga club Bayern Munich, which was literally a challenge for this Spanish club. What happened would happen, the first leg was a draw (1-1), but they were defeated by Bayern Munich with a persuasive result (0-4). 

The second time that the Mattresses lost their opportunity to win the Champions League was in the 2013-14 season. Two Madrid clubs entered the final round, but Real Madrid surpassed Atletico with a 4-1 win, and once again in the 2015-16 season with five penalty goals over three from Atletico. The club mostly stopped at the quarter-finals, and are still trying to once lift the Champions League trophy.   

Atletico missed the 2013-14 UCL

Player statistics

Antoine Griezmann

Some things we should know about Atletico Madrid and the UEFA Champions League

Atletico Madrid F.C.

Club Atlético de Madrid, meaning “Athletic Club of Madrid”, or simply known as Atletico, is a professional football club based in Madrid City, Spain. They were founded 118 years ago, on 26 April 1903 as Athletic Club Sucursal de Madrid. The club are playing at Wanda Metropolitano with a 68,457 capacity. 

Atletico Madrid are the third-most successful club in Spanish football, after Real Madrid and Barcelona. They are managed by head coach Diego Simeone, who has been in charge of this club for 10 years. 

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL) is a football competition that is organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). This is a gathering of top-division European clubs every year. It was founded in 1955 as the European Cup and renamed to Champions League in the 1992-93 season. The format and structure of the UCL have been changed over the years. Currently, there are five rounds before the group stage, after that, the knockout phase takes place from the round of 16 to the final to decide the winner that will qualify for the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. Real Madrid are the most successful club in the UEFA Champions League with 13 titles.

References

Wikipedia

Uefa.com

Betimate.com