Atlético vs Lokomotiv Moskva: UEFA Champions League background, form guide, previous meetings

Atlético de Madrid have the chance to strengthen their grip on second place in Group A as they welcome a Lokomotiv Moskva side who have proved obdurate opponents in their opening three fixtures.

• Diego Simeone's Atlético have picked up four points from their first three games, mustering a single win, and were held 1-1 in Moscow on Matchday 3 with José María Giménez's 18th-minute opener cancelled out by an Anton Miranchuk penalty seven minutes later.

• Loko, who are third on two points, have never won in Spain and are still seeking their first victory in this season's UEFA Champions League.

Previous meetings

• Atlético are now unbeaten in their six games against Lokomotiv. They won 2-0 in both Moscow and Madrid in the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League group stage, João Félix opening the scoring in both games.

• Atleti also got the better of Lokomotiv in the round of 16 of their victorious 2017/18 UEFA Europa League campaign. Saúl Ñíguez, Diego Costa and Koke scored in a 3-0 first-leg win at the Estadio Metropolitano before a 5-1 success at Moscow's Stadion Lokomotiv in which Ángel Correa and Saúl found the net, Maciej Rybus with the sole response for Loko.

• The teams shared a 3-3 draw in Moscow in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage, Peter Odemwingie scoring twice for Lokomotiv and Sergio Agüero doing likewise for Atlético.

Form guide
Atlético

• The Rojiblancos opened their 2020/21 UEFA Champions League campaign with a 4-0 loss at holders Bayern München, equalling their heaviest European defeat, but responded with a 3-2 victory at home to Salzburg before the draw in Russia.

• Third in Spain in 2019/20, this is Atlético's 11th UEFA Champions League group campaign and eighth in a row; all but two of the previous ten have extended into the knockout stages.

• Last season, Simeone's side finished second in their section behind Juventus, picking up ten points. Their two defeats both came away, at Bayer Leverkusen (1-2) and Juve (0-1), with the other game that 2-0 victory at Lokomotiv. Atleti were unbeaten at home in the group stage, collecting two wins and a draw.

• Atlético then ousted holders Liverpool in impressive style in the round of 16 (1-0 h, 3-2 a aet) but came up short against Leipzig in the quarter-finals in Lisbon, going down 2-1.

• The Madrid club have reached the quarter-finals or better in five of their last seven UEFA Champions League campaigns – all under coach Simeone.

• Atlético have lost only seven of their last 34 European matches (W20 D7), although four of those defeats have come in their last nine.

• The Rojiblancos have reached two UEFA Champions League and three UEFA Europa League finals in the last 11 seasons.

• A 2-1 loss to Chelsea on Matchday 2 in 2017/18 is Atlético's only defeat in the last 27 European games in their own stadium (W22 D4).

• After losing their first two home matches against Russian clubs, Atlético have won the last four.

Lokomotiv
• Loko drew 2-2 at Salzburg on Matchday 1 before going down 2-1 at home to Bayern and then holding Atlético 1-1.

• Second behind Zenit in the Russian Premier League for the second season running in 2019/20, Lokomotiv are in the group stage for the sixth time overall and the third in successive seasons. Their 2018/19 appearance was their first since 2003/04, which was also their third consecutive group campaign.

• In 2019/20 Loko opened with a 2-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen – their first away victory in the UEFA Champions League since a 2-1 win at Galatasaray in the 2002/03 first group stage; their record between those two victories, qualifying included, was D4 L9 – but lost their next five matches, conceding two goals in each of them. That left them bottom behind Juventus, Atlético and Leverkusen.

• Lokomotiv have finished bottom of their section in each of the last two seasons.

• The Moscow club have lost 12 of their last 16 UEFA Champions League group matches, winning two; Matchday 1 was their first draw in the competition proper since 5 November 2003, when their match at Internazionale ended 1-1. They have now picked up two draws in three matches this season.

• Lokomotiv have also won only two of their last 17 European games, losing 13.

• Last season's victory at Leverkusen and the draw at Salzburg on Matchday 1 of the current campaign are the only times Loko have avoided defeat in their last eight away European matches.

• Lokomotiv have yet to win in eight UEFA outings on Spanish turf, losing seven. The only time they escaped defeat – indeed their only goals – came in the Spanish capital when they drew 2-2 with holders Real Madrid in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League second group stage.

Links and trivia
• Has played in Spain:
Grzegorz Krychowiak (Sevilla 2014–16)

• Have played together:
Šime Vrsaljko & Vedran Ćorluka (Croatia 2011–18)

• International team-mates:
João Félix & Éder (Portugal)

• Koke missed a penalty as Spain lost to Fedor Smolov's Russia in a shoot-out in the last 16 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

• Kieran Trippier's only goal for England came at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium in the 2018 World Cup semi-final against Croatia. The Croatians, with Ćorluka coming on as a substitute, came back to win 2-1 after extra time.

• Luis Suárez has twice played against Russia for Uruguay, in a 1-1 friendly draw at the Stadion Lokomotiv in 2012 and in a 3-0 win in the World Cup group stage six years later in Samara, and scored in both games. Smolov came on as a subsitute in the 2018 match.

Latest news
Atlético
• Koke's next appearance in UEFA club competition will be his 100th.

• Ángel Correa has made 49 appearances in UEFA club competition.

• Atleti are the only side still unbeaten in this season's Liga (W6 D2). They were 1-0 winners at home to Barcelona on Saturday, ending a run of 20 league matches without a victory against the Catalan club (D6 L14).

• Atlético are unbeaten in their last 24 Liga matches (W15 D9), a club record.

• Luis Suárez scored his 150th Liga goal in a 2-0 win at Celta Vigo on 17 October, in his 196th match in the competition. Only Cristiano Ronaldo (140 matches) has been faster to that mark in the 21st century.

• The victory at Celta was Simeone's 200th Liga win as Atlético coach, in his 330th match. He is the second Liga boss to reach that landmark with one club, after former Real Madrid coach Miguel Muñoz (257 matches).

• Suárez scored a penalty in Uruguay's 3-0 win in Colombia in 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying on 13 November, but has since been sidelined by illness.

• Lucas Torreira, who also played for Uruguay, has also been suffering with illness.

• João Félix scored in Portugal's 7-0 friendly win against Andorra on 11 November and the 3-2 UEFA Nations League victory in Croatia six days later. The forward has eight goals in his last eight games for club and country.

• Marcos Llorente made his debut for Spain in the 1-1 friendly draw against the Netherlands on 11 November, following in the footsteps of his father Paco Llorente and grandfather Ramón Grosso. They are just the second family to have had three consecutive generations represent Spain, after Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso, his father and grandfather.

• Diego Costa came on as a second-half substitute on Saturday having been out since 17 October due to a hamstring injury.

• Héctor Herrera has not played since the 4-0 Liga win against Cádiz on 7 November due to a hamstring injury.

• Yannick Carrasco, who scored the only goal on Saturday, had not played since 24 October due to a hamstring problem.

• Šime Vrsaljko – who is not in Atlético's UEFA Champions League squad – is a long-term absentee with a knee injury.

Lokomotiv
• Fedor Smolov's next appearance in UEFA club competition will be his 50th.

• Lokomotiv's six-game unbeaten domestic run was ended by a 2-1 league loss at home to Rotor Volgograd on 24 October. They subsequently lost 2-1 at Sochi and, on 8 November, 5-1 at Dinamo Moskva, the first time they had suffered three successive league defeats since September 2016.

• Marko Nikolić's side ended a six-game winless run in all competitions (D2 L4) with a 1-0 home defeat of Arsenal Tula on Saturday. Anton Miranchuk got the only goal from the penalty spot, and has now scored four of Loko's last five goals.

• Having won their first two Russian Premier League matches of 2020/21, Loko then went five matches without a win (D3 L2) but had won four in a row before losing to Rotor.

• Right-back Dmitri Zhivoglyadov received his first Russian senior national team call-up for the internationals in November, although he did not play.

• Daniil Kulikov provided two assists as Russia's U-21 side drew 2-2 in Slovenia in a friendly on 17 November. He had made his debut in 2-0 friendly defeat by Hungary four days earlier.

• Smolov went off in the first half at Dinamo and is expected to be sidelined for six weeks with a tendon injury.

• On Saturday Vedran Ćorluka made his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury against Bayern on Matchday 2, but was sent off in first-half added time for a second bookable offence.

• Mikhail Lysov is likely to be out for several months with cardiovascular problems.