Ronaldo looks to add to Atletico’s woes in Champions League

No competition makes Cristiano Ronaldo come more alive than the Champions League. And no team makes Ronaldo come more alive than Atletico Madrid.

So Diego Simeone and his players could be forgiven for feeling a certain amount of trepidation when Ronaldo arrives at the Wanda Metropolitano for Thursday’s last-16 match between Atletico and Manchester United, despite the Portugal superstar — at 37 — not being quite the force of nature who caused the Spanish club so much pain in the Champions League over the past decade.

From 2014-19, when Ronaldo played for Real Madrid and then Juventus, he was part of teams that ended Atletico’s Champions League title ambitions in five of the six seasons.

In the other season, Atletico didn’t make it to the knockout stage. Ronaldo scored hat tricks for Real (in 2017) and Juventus (in 2019) against Atletico and converted the clinching penalty in the shootout between the Madrid rivals in 2016 final.

Don’t forget, either, his muscle-flexing celebrations after his late penalty in extra time of the 2014 final between the teams that killed off Atletico. Up until 2020, Simeone had only ever lost in the Champions League knockout stage to a team.

Rangnick ready for emotional battle

Staying in the top four in the English Premier League has been a struggle for United, but they topped their Champions League group - something Rangnick is adamant does not make them certain to reach the latter rounds.

“To say that a club like United should regularly be in the semi-final of the Champions League is not unique (to them),” Rangnick told a news conference on Tuesday. “I can recall a few other clubs in Europe where this could also be the case.

“They (Atletico) are always an emotional side and this reflects the character of the manager. Diego Simeone is probably one of the best emotional managers in Europe. The way his team play reflects those emotions. “We need to match the levels of energy in both games. It will be physical, it will be emotional and we will have to be mentally strong in both games.”