Lisandro puts Porto in pole position

As they prepare for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League first knockout round tie with Club Atlético de Madrid, FC Porto will be mindful that they have exited the competition at this stage in each of the past two seasons – but Lisandro's first-leg double in Spain have given the Portuguese side every hope of progressing this time round.

• Porto twice fell behind at the Vicente Calderón on Matchday 7, Maxi Rodríguez giving the home side the perfect start with a third-minute opener, but Lisandro levelled midway through the first half. An error from Porto goalkeeper Helton allowed Diego Forlán to restore the Atlético advantage in first-half added time, but Lisandro was not to be denied and struck his sixth goal in the competition with 18 minutes remaining to give the Portuguese champions the edge ahead of the second leg at the Estádio do Dragão.

• Twelve months ago the two-time European champions were beaten 4-1 on penalties by FC Schalke 04 at their home ground after a 1-1 draw over the two games. The previous year Porto went down 3-2 on aggregate to Chelsea FC, losing the second game 2-1 after the Portuguese leg had finished 1-1.

• This time round a 2-0 home victory against Arsenal FC on Matchday 6 sealed Porto's qualifying place as winners of Group G with 12 points, one ahead of the London club. It continued a trend because only once in the previous five campaigns had they failed to progress beyond the group stage. Apart from the win against Arsenal, Jesualdo Ferreira's side also beat Fenerbahçe SK 3-1 at home and lost 1-0 there to FC Dynamo Kyiv.

• Porto's last home match against visitors from Spain, in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League semi-final, ended 0-0 but they have happy memories of the occasion because it was followed by a 1-0 victory at RC Deportivo La Coruña to win a place in the final. That brought them up against AS Monaco FC and a 3-0 victory, their second triumph in Europe's most prestigious club competition.

• In 13 home games against opponents from Spain in UEFA club competition, the Portuguese champions have won five and lost six. Porto have played a total of 29 games against Spanish sides, winning eight and drawing four.

• Porto have managed a draw away from home in the first leg of a European Champion Clubs' Cup tie on three occasions, progressing to the next round twice. The successes came against CS Dinamo Bucuresti in the 1990/91 second round and FC Sion at the same stage of the competition two seasons later, the Portuguese side winning 4-0 in the home decider both times. However, in the same year they overcame Dinamo, Porto met FC Bayern München in the quarter-finals, going down 3-1 on aggregate despite a 1-1 away draw in the opener in Germany.

• The omens are equally promising for Atlético, though, victors on the only previous occasion in which they have been held at home in the first leg of a European Cup tie, winning 1-0 overall against Galatasaray SK in the 1973/74 first round. The picture is marginally less favourable for the Spanish side other UEFA club competitions, with two defeats and one win in ties that have featured a drawn first leg at Atlético's home ground.

• Prior to the first leg the teams had met on only one previous occasion in a competitive fixture, the 1963/64 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first round. That went Atlético's way thanks to a 2-1 home win, with the game in Portugal ending 0-0. In UEFA club competition the Spanish side have lost on their only two previous visits to play Portuguese opponents, both in the UEFA Cup. They went down 4-1 at Boavista FC in the 1981/82 first round and then 2-0 at Vitória SC in the 1986/87 second round and in each case were unable to retrieve the deficit in the home legs.

• In their previous UEFA Champions League campaign, 12 years ago, Atlético also met defeat in the first round following the group stage. In the 1996/97 quarter-finals they drew 1-1 away to AFC Ajax but followed that with a 3-2 home defeat.

• Abel Resino's Atlético side performed creditably in the group stage and were unbeaten in their six games, matching Porto's haul of 12 points. They started with a superb 3-0 triumph in the Netherlands against PSV Eindhoven, then drew 1-1 at Liverpool FC and finished up with a scoreless encounter away to Olympique de Marseille on Matchday 6. That meant they finished two points short of pool winners Liverpool.

• Atlético, beaten finalists in 1974, have three former Porto players in their ranks. Maniche helped the Portuguese side to the UEFA Champions League crown in 2004 and UEFA Cup victory the previous season while Paulo Assunção had two stints with the club. In 2000/01 he made 36 appearances for the B team and returned in 2004 for a four-year stay. Giourkas Seitaridis made seven UEFA Champions League appearances for Porto in 2004/05.

• Maniche aside, Atlético boast another UEFA Champions League winner in Luis García, who helped Liverpool to the 2004/05 crown. Winger Simão, who was named Portuguese Player of the Year in 2007, has had spells with Sporting Clube de Portugal and SL Benfica.

• Grégory Coupet played for Olympique Lyonnais in both legs of the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Porto while in the previous round Forlán had been an unused substitute in Manchester United FC's two games with the Portuguese champions.

• Porto have won one and lost two of their previous penalty shoot-outs in UEFA club competition:
1-4 v FC Schalke 04, 2007/08 UEFA Champions League first knockout round
8-7 v CD Once Caldas, 2004 European/South American Cup final
3-5 v UC Sampdoria, 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final

• Atlético have lost their three previous penalty shoot-outs in UEFA club competition:
1-3 v Villarreal CF, 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup final
1-3 v ACF Fiorentina, 1989/90 UEFA Cup first round
6-7 v Derby County FC, 1974/75 UEFA Cup second round

• The draw for the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals and semi-finals will take place at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 20 March.