Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid

Estadio Santiago Bernabeu is the venue as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid go head-to-head in the first leg of their mouth-watering Champions League last-16 tie.

The 239th edition of the Madrid derby comes less than a month after Real Madrid shared the spoils with Atletico in a 1-1 home draw in La Liga, failing to add to their remarkable H2H record (W116, D63, L59). Furthermore, a 2-1 loss at Betis last weekend saw ‘Los Blancos’ surrender their place at La Liga’s table summit to Atletico, adding more intensity to this fixture. On a positive note, Carlo Ancelotti’s side thumped Manchester City 6-3 on aggregate in their knockout playoff tie to set up this contest, winning the home leg 3-1. That was their fifth victory across their last six Champions League outings at the Bernabeu (L1). However, they head into proceedings on a nine-game run without a clean sheet in home European action (W6, D2, L1).

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid squeaked past Athletic Bilbao 1-0 at the weekend to ascend La Liga’s throne as long-serving manager Diego Simeone bids to win his third league title at the helm of ‘Los Rojiblancos.’ Moreover, the visitors skipped the knockout playoff round after winning six matches in the league phase (L2), including a 4-1 thrashing of RB Salzburg on their last continental travel. Only Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund netted more goals in the league stage than Atletico’s 20, suggesting a third consecutive H2H win in European competitions could be on the cards. Against this backdrop, they’ve lost their last three away knockout games in the Champions League – their worst such run since the 1970s.