By Emmanuel Okogba
Cristiano Ronaldo will most definitely be part of Ralf Rangnick starting eleven for their Round of 16 Champions League clash with Spanish champions, Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.
While it’s only the first time both sides are meeting since the 1991/92 European Cup Winners’ Cup, Ronaldo is no stranger to Diego Simeone and his players. Aside the fact that they frequently met in La Liga games, Ronaldo was part of the Read Madrid team that denied Atletico winning the most prized trophy in European football on two occasions.
Ronaldo scored a 120th minute penalty to seal Atletico’s fate in a 4-1 comeback win in 2014 and scored the winning penalty in the 5-3 victory two year later.
His numbers against Atletico are impressive –
- 25 goals
- 35 games
- 9 assists
- 4 hattricks
The Portuguese has more goal contributions against Atletico Madrid than against any other club in his career.
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Ronaldo continued his tormenting of Atletico even after he joined Juventus. Both sides met in the Round of 16 during the 2018/19 campaign where he scored a hattrick to overturn a 2-0 first leg loss.
After scoring the third goal, Ronaldo almost got himself into trouble when he imitated Diego Simeone’s ‘cojones’ celebration from the first leg.
Simeone had before the Champions League group-stage clash between Atletico and Juventus in 2019 said, “It is difficult to prepare for a player like Cristiano. He is an animal in front of goal.
“He has an incredible record and he is always difficult to control in any goalscoring situation. He has made us suffer in the past.”
Although the 37 years old is not the same player he was in 2018, he is still lethal in front of goal and only recently ended a six-game goal scoring drought coupled with his impressive outing of six goals in five Champions League matches so far this season.
Possible line-ups
Atlético: Oblak; Vrsaljko, Felipe, Savić, Reinildo; Llorente, Herrera, Kondogbia, Lodi; Matheus Cunha, João Félix
Man. United: De Gea; Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Pogba; Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Sancho; Ronaldo
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