Diego Simeone said the numbers do not lie about his success in the Champions League after guiding Atletico Madrid to yet another quarter-final in the competition.
Atletico reached the last eight of UEFA’s flagship competition despite a 3-2 loss to Tottenham in the second leg on Wednesday, with the damage done in Madrid eight days’ ago.
The LaLiga side emerged 7-5 victors on aggregate, coming back from behind twice at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before Xavi Simons’ late penalty sealed the win for the hosts.
Simeone has now progressed from eight different Champions League last 16 knockout ties, as many as Jose Mourinho and behind only Pep Guardiola (14) and Carlo Ancelotti (13) in Champions League history.
“There are times when it is not necessary to talk, the numbers speak for themselves,” Simeone told reporters about his latest achievement.
“We have to give the greatest energy we have, the quality to reinvent ourselves. The effort made an enormous effort.
“The team did not start well, the three-goal advantage did not come well. We equalised, it was 2-1, we equalised, we had situations to close and the final penalty came.”
31 – Atlético Madrid have scored 31 goals in 12 matches in the 2025/26 @ChampionsLeague, their highest tally in a single edition of the competition in their history.
Punch. pic.twitter.com/BH9M26tJmk
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) March 18, 2026
But not only are those numbers impressive, but with their two goals against Spurs, only Paris Saint-Germain (34) and Bayern Munich (32) have netted more than Atletico’s 31 in the Champions League in 2025-26.
In addition, the only two occasions Atletico have scored as many as seven goals on aggregate in a Champions League tie have been in their last two ties this season, having previously beaten Club Brugge 7-4 in the play-offs.
And their reward is yet another clash with Barcelona, having already played the Blaugrana three times this campaign, the latest of which saw Simeone’s side knock them out in the Copa del Rey semi-finals over two legs.
“Yes, it’s a moment to be happy as a club, as a team, with the joy of our people, who will take this step to the quarter-finals,” Simeone added.
“When you enter here the road will be hard, as in previous situations when we reached the final.
“We will have to compete like this. It will be difficult because we will face the team in Europe that attacks the best, but we will be excited to compete.”
It was also a special outing for Julian Alvarez, who became just the fourth player to score and assist in both legs of a Champions League knockout tie (two goals, one assist in first leg, 1 goal, 1 assist in second leg).
The others are Alessandro Del Piero (1997-98 semi-final, Juventus vs Monaco), Kaka (2011-12 quarter-final, Real Madrid vs APOEL) and Robert Lewandowski (2019-20 last 16, Bayern Munich vs Chelsea).
“We knew it wouldn’t be easy against a complicated team who play very well,” Alvarez said of Atletico’s display.
“But with the three-goal advantage from the first leg, we knew how to control the tempo of the game.
“We obviously wanted to win on the night, and had opportunities to do so, but we’re happy to go through to the quarter-finals.”
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