Atlético v Leverkusen facts

Atlético Madrid are well placed in a tight Group D as they take on a Bayer Leverkusen side who are already in danger of being cut adrift having lost their first two matches.

• While Diego Simeone's Atlético are still unbeaten having picked up four points, Leverkusen's winless UEFA Champions League run was stretched to four games by defeats at home to Lokomotiv Moskva and at Juventus, and they now take on opponents who ended the German club's last campaign in the competition three seasons ago.

Previous meetings
• Atlético were 4-2 aggregate victors when the teams last met, in the 2016/17 round of 16. All the goals came in the first leg in Germany, Saúl Ñíguez opening the scoring for the visitors, who came out on top despite a Stefan Savić own goal.

• The teams had met at the same stage of the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League. Each won their home game 1-0, Atlético going through 3-2 on penalties despite Koke missing one of their kicks in the shoot-out.

• The clubs played out two 1-1 draws in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League group stage. Jupp Heynckes' Leverkusen ended up top of that section while the elimination of Quique Sánchez Flores' Atlético, then holders, was confirmed with the Matchday 6 draw at Leverkusen. 

Form guide
Atlético
• On Matchday 1, goals in the final 20 minutes from Stefan Savić and Héctor Herrera helped Atlético fight back from 0-2 down to snatch a draw against Juventus, a result that nevertheless ended their nine-game winning run at home in European matches.

• Matchday 2 proved more straightforward for Simeone's side, thanks to a 2-0 success at Lokomotiv.

• A 2-1 loss to Chelsea on Matchday 2 in 2017/18 is Atlético's only defeat in the last 23 European games in their own stadium (W18 D4).

• Second in Spain in 2018/19, this is Atlético's tenth UEFA Champions League group campaign; all but two of the previous nine have extended into the knockout stages.

• Last season Atlético beat Borussia Dortmund and Monaco, both 2-0, at home but finished second behind Borussia Dortmund in Group A. They went down 4-0 in Germany on Matchday 3, their joint heaviest European defeat, and bowed out in the round of 16 after a 3-0 second-leg defeat at Juventus, losing 3-2 on aggregate.

• Atlético have lost only three of their last 24 matches in continental competition (W15 D6).

• Atlético are on a nine-match unbeaten run at home to German clubs (W7 D2), dating back to a 1-0 defeat by Dortmund in the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• The Rojiblancos have reached two UEFA Champions League and three UEFA Europa League finals in the last ten seasons.

Leverkusen
• This season Leverkusen have lost 1-2 at home to Lokomotiv and, last time out, 3-0 at Juventus, making it just two wins in their last 15 UEFA Champions League matches (D8 L5).

• Fourth in last season's Bundesliga, 2002 runners-up Leverkusen are in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the 12th time, and the first since 2016/17. They have reached the last 16 or better in seven of their last eight campaigns, most recently getting to the 2016/17 round of 16 where they lost to Atlético (2-4 h, 0-0 a).

•  Absent from Europe in 2017/18, for the first time in eight years, last season Leverkusen finished first in their UEFA Europa League section ahead of Zürich, AEK Larnaca and Ludogorets, but lost on away goals to Krasnodar in the round of 32 (0-0 a, 1-1 h).

• Despite the defeat in Turin on Matchday 2, Die Werkself have lost only three of their last 12 European away games (W4 D5), and racked up ten goals on the road in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage.

• The loss at Juventus ended Leverkusen's five-match unbeaten run in away UEFA Champions League games (W1 D4), since a 3-2 group stage loss at Roma in November 2015.

• Leverkusen's last visit to a Liga club was that goalless draw at Atlético in 2017, a result that at least ended a three-match losing streak in Spain, where their overall record is W3 D3 L12. Their last victory in Spain was a 1-0 success at Real Sociedad in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League group stage.

Links and trivia
• Simeone faced Leverkusen twice as a player with Lazio in the 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League first group stage, appearing as a late substitute in 1-1 draws in both Germany and Italy.

• On 9 October Lucas Alario scored one goal and set up another as Argentina drew 2-2 in a friendly against a Germany side including Kai Havertz and Nadiem Amiri; Ángel Correa also featured for Argentina.

• Julian Baumgartlinger and Aleksandar Dragovic helped Austria to a 1-0 UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying win against Jan Oblak's Slovenia on 13 October.

Latest news

Atlético Madrid
• Álvaro Morata made his 50th appearance in UEFA club competition on Matchday 2; Stefan Savić, Héctor Herrera and Diego Costa will reach the same mark when they next feature.

• Atlético have drawn five of their last seven matches in all competitions, winning the other two games 2-0. They were held 1-1 at home by Valencia on Saturday, Diego Costa scoring his 50th Liga goal for the club.

• Saturday's draw ended a run of four successive Liga clean sheets for Diego Simeone's side.

• Atlético have failed to score in three of their last five league fixtures.

• Atlético have won only one of their last six league matches, a 2-0 victory at Mallorca on 25 September – that match and Saturday's draw with Valencia are the only games during that sequence in which Atlético have scored.

• Atlético's 12 goals this season in all competitions have been scored by seven different players, only Thomas Partey, Vitolo, Diego Costa and three-goal top scorer João Félix registering more than once.

• Saúl Ñíguez scored in Spain's 1-1 UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying draw with Norway on 12 October and was an unused substitute in the subsequent draw against Sweden that secured a finals place.

• Savić picked up a hamstring issue in Montenegro's 1-1 UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying draw with Bulgaria on 11 October and missed the Valencia game.

• Šime Vrsaljko has not played since January with a knee injury.

Leverkusen
• Sven Bender made his 50th appearance in UEFA club competition on Matchday 2.

• Four days after the Juventus defeat Leverkusen earned a 1-1 draw against Leipzig and have picked up 14 points from their first eight Bundesliga games.

• Leverkusen's winless run was extended to three games (D1 L2) by a 3-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday. Die Werkself have scored only one goal in that run, and have won only two of their last eight matches in all competitions (D2 L4).

• Kai Havertz scored in Germany's 2-2 friendly draw against Argentina on 9 October, his first international goal. Nadiem Amiri made his Germany debut in the same game.

• Lucas Alario scored for Argentina in Germany and in a 6-1 friendly win against Ecuador in Spain four days later.

• Joel Pohjanpalo, who had been out since March 2018 due to persistent foot problems, returned to team training during the international break in early September and has been an unused substitute in Leverkusen's last three Bundesliga games. On 12 October he scored Finland's consolation goal in a 4-1 UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying loss at Bosnia and Herzegovina.

• Lukas Hrádecký kept goal in both that match in Zenica and Finland's 3-0 win against Armenia in Turku three days later.

• Jonathan Tah missed Germany's matches against Argentina and Estonia due to illness, and was an unused substitute at Eintracht on Friday.

• Charles Aránguiz (metatarsal and thigh) and Daley Sinkgraven (thigh) both suffered injuries against Leipzig on 5 October and missed the Eintracht game.

• Leon Bailey suffered a muscle injury against Lokomotiv on Matchday 1 on 18 September, but is back in team training.

• On 17 October Leverkusen announced that Julian Baumgartlinger has extended his contract until 2021.

FootballPeople weeks
The FootballPeople weeks take place from 10 to 24 October 2019 and are organised by UEFA's social responsibility partner Fare. The weeks are a global campaign aimed at tackling discrimination and celebrating diversity in football. The UEFA Champions League is offering its full support to the FootballPeople weeks; teams will line up for a mixed photo with the referees, while an #EqualGame hashtag will also be on display. Videos will be played on giant screens at stadiums across Europe, and child mascots will be wearing #FootballPeople t-shirts. UEFA's collaboration with the Fare network's FootballPeople weeks has been running since 2001. The aim of this initiative fits in perfectly with the goals of #EqualGame, which is looking to promote inclusion, diversity and accessibility.