Atlético threaten Chelsea's reign in Spain

Chelsea FC have made at least one visit to Spain in each of the last five UEFA Champions League seasons and their Matchday 4 fixture at the Vicente Calderón offers them the chance to continue an impressive run in the country at the expense of Club Atlético de Madrid.

• Matchday 3 suggested the London club should have little to fear in Madrid, Salomon Kalou scoring either side of half-time with Frank Lampard and a Luis Perea own goal completing a 4-0 win that prompted the departure of Abel Resino. The coach leaves Atlético with the club fourth in Group D having collected one point from three matches, while Chelsea have won every game to establish a three-point lead at the top of the standings.

Match background
• Before the Stamford Bridge fixture the teams had never met in a competitive fixture but the Premier League outfit are unbeaten in their last five games in Spain.

• Chelsea won two of those games, both 2-1 against Valencia CF and both in 2007, one a quarter-final and the other a group-stage contest. The sequence also includes three draws against FC Barcelona, most recently in last season's semi-final when a 0-0 away stalemate in the first leg left the English side optimistic only for Andrés Iniesta to strike in added time at Stamford Bridge as Barça advanced on away goals.

• Atlético have never lost in a competitive home game against English opponents. The last two fixtures ended in draws, against Liverpool FC in last season's group stage and Bolton Wanderers FC in the previous year's UEFA Cup round of 32, but before that the Madrid club had won four of the five matches.

• Chelsea's win at APOEL FC on Matchday 2 ended their recent indifferent away form in the UEFA Champions League. They failed to win on their travels in last season's group stage though in the knockout rounds they drew at Juventus and Barcelona either side of a 3-1 victory at Liverpool FC.

• Since a 2-1 defeat by Fenerbahçe SK in the 2007/08 quarter-final first leg, Chelsea have played eight away games in the UEFA Champions League, not including their defeat on penalties in the 2008 final in Moscow against Manchester United FC, and have drawn five, won two and lost one.

• The goalless draw against APOEL on Matchday 1 extended Atlético's unbeaten run at home in the UEFA Champions League. Last season, their first in the competition for 12 years, they won two and drew one of their group games and finished all-square with FC Porto in Madrid in the first knockout round, bowing out on away goals.

Team ties
• Diego Forlán scored for Uruguay against a Brazil team featuring Alex in the 2007 Copa América semi-finals. However, Forlán missed his penalty during the subsequent shoot-out, which Brazil won 5-4.

• Maxi Rodríguez played for Argentina in a 3-2 friendly defeat by England in Geneva in November 2005. John Terry and Frank Lampard lined up on the other side and Joe Cole appeared as a second-half substitute.

• Joe Cole scored England's winner in a friendly against Uruguay at Anfield in March 2006. Terry also featured while Forlán was in the visitors' lineup.

• Paulo Assunção played for Porto against Chelsea in both legs of the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League first knockout round.

• Pablo Ibáñez made his Spain debut against England in a friendly in Madrid in November 2004. Ashley Cole, Terry and Lampard all featured for the visitors and José Antonio Reyes for Spain.

• Reyes scored for Arsenal FC against Chelsea in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final at Highbury in April 2004, but Lampard equalised and Chelsea eventually went through 3-2 on aggregate.

• Petr Čech and Tomáš Ujfaluši are team-mates for the Czech Republic.

• Simão plays for Portugal alongside Ricardo Carvalho, Deco and José Bosingwa.