Chelsea and Atlético seek UEFA Super Cup spoils

UEFA Europa League holders Club Atlético de Madrid will be looking to lift the UEFA Super Cup for the second time in three years when they tackle European champions Chelsea FC at the Stade Louis II in Monaco.

• Atlético will be aiming to join Juventus, RSC Anderlecht and Valencia CF as two-time victors after beating FC Internazionale Milano 2-0 in 2010, while UEFA Champions League winners Chelsea, with former Atlético captain Fernando Torres in their ranks, hope to lift the trophy for the second time. Their sole previous experience ended in victory against Spanish opposition as Real Madrid CF were defeated 1-0 in 1998, the first one-off match to be held in Monaco.

• Chelsea booked their place by winning the UEFA Champions League for the first time last term, Roberto Di Matteo's men overcoming FC Bayern München on penalties in Munich. Didier Drogba drew the Blues level at 1-1 with two minutes to go in normal time before a 4-3 shoot-out victory made them the first London club to claim the European crown.

• Diego Simeone's Atlético triumphed in the UEFA Europa League showpiece, seeing off fellow Liga side Athletic Club 3-0 in Bucharest. Falcao set up the win with a stunning pair of first-half strikes and Diego sealed the result five minutes from time.

Previous meetings
• The teams' only encounters came in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League group stage when Chelsea took four points off their Spanish rivals to finish top of Group D. Atlético came third and transferred to the maiden edition of the UEFA Europa League, which they eventually won.

• Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea won the first game 4-0 at Stamford Bridge, Salomon Kalou scoring twice (41, 52) before Frank Lampard (69) added another and Luis Perea (90+1) headed a Florent Malouda free-kick into his own net. The defeat prompted the departure of Atlético coach Abel Resino.

• The lineups for that fixture on 21 October 2009 were:
Chelsea: Čech, Belletti, Ivanović, Terry, A Cole (Malouda 75), Ballack, Essien, Lampard, Kalou (Zhirkov 73), Deco, Anelka (Sturridge 78).
Atlético: Asenjo, Ujfaluši, Perea, Domínguez, López, Cléber (Rodríguez 65), Raúl García, Paulo Assunção (Jurado 54), Forlán, Simão (Reyes 77), Agüero.

• With Quique Sánchez Flores at the helm, the Rojiblancos earned a 2-2 draw in the return, although the result ended their hopes of progress and secured Chelsea's spot in the knockout phase. Substitute Sergio Agüero put Atlético ahead after 66 minutes and registered again in the first minute of added time to salvage a point after Drogba (82, 88) had scored twice.

• The teams at the Estadio Vicente Calderón on 3 November 2009 were:
Atlético: Asenjo, Perea, Pablo Ibáñez, Juanito, López, Reyes (Rodríguez 73), Cléber, Paulo Assunção, Simão (Jurado 83), Sinama Pongolle (Agüero 53), Forlán.
Chelsea: Čech, Belletti, Alex, Terry, A Cole, Essien (Ballack 59), Lampard, Malouda, J Cole (Deco 70), Drogba, Kalou (Anelka 70).

• Goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo is the only player left in the Atlético squad who featured in those games; Lampard, Malouda, Petr Čech, Branislav Ivanović, Ashley Cole, John Terry, Michael Essien and Daniel Sturridge are still at Chelsea.

Match background
• Chelsea are undefeated against Spanish opponents, home and away, in 13 competitive fixtures. Their last reverse was inflicted by FC Barcelona in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League round of 16, a 2-1 loss at Stamford Bridge.

• The Blues overcame Barcelona in last season's semi-finals, Drogba securing a 1-0 home win ahead of an epic 2-2 draw at the Camp Nou. Chelsea had faced Valencia in the group stage, triumphing 3-0 at home after a 1-1 draw in Spain.

• Overall Chelsea have faced Spanish sides 31 times, winning 14, drawing 11 and losing six, including their 1998 UEFA Super Cup win against Madrid.

• Atlético earned their place in the 2010 UEFA Super Cup by defeating English opposition in the inaugural UEFA Europa League final, Diego Forlán scoring twice in a 2-1 extra-time win against Fulham FC in Hamburg. That was their most recent contest with a Premier League club; they also recorded home and away wins against Liverpool FC in the semi-finals.

• Atlético have taken on English teams 20 times, winning seven, drawing eight and losing five.

• The Spanish side have won their last 12 matches in European competition, stretching back to a 2-0 loss to Udinese Calcio in last season's UEFA Europa League group phase.

• José Antonio Reyes and Agüero scored Atlético's goals in the 2-0 victory against Inter in the 2010 UEFA Super Cup. Diego Godín and Raúl García started the game for Atletico; Joel Robles, Mario Suárez and Diego Costa were unused substitutes.

• Gus Poyet scored the sole goal of Chelsea's only previous UEFA Super Cup appearance, against Madrid. Di Matteo played 63 minutes with his assistant Eddie Newton an unused substitute.

• Chelsea visited the Stade Louis II in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, losing the first leg 3-1 to AS Monaco FC in the principality and exiting after a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.

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

• Chelsea's record in penalty shoot-outs in UEFA competition is:
4-3 v FC Bayern München, 2011/12 UEFA Champions League final
5-6 v Manchester United FC, 2007/08 UEFA Champions League final
1-4 v Liverpool FC, 2006/07 UEFA Champions League semi-final

• This will be the 15th consecutive edition of the UEFA Super Cup to be held in Monaco; following a decision by the UEFA Executive Committee last June, the 2013 Super Cup will take place in Prague's Eden Stadium, moving on to Cardiff in 2014 and Tbilisi the following year.

Team Ties
• Di Matteo and Simeone were on opposing sides when Chelsea lost 2-1 at home to S.S. Lazio in the 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League second group stage.

• Born in the Madrid suburb of Fuenlabrada, Chelsea forward Torres became Atlético's youngest captain at 19 and scored 84 goals in 214 Liga appearances for the Rojiblancos before joining Liverpool FC in 2007.

• Tiago struck four goals in 34 Premier League games for Chelsea between 2004 and 2006.

• Thibaut Courtois was loaned by Chelsea to Atlético last season shortly after signing from KRC Genk. The Belgian international – who featured in all but one of Atlético's Liga games and picked up a UEFA Europa League winners medal – will stay with the Spanish club for the coming campaign.

• Raul Meireles was team-mates with Cristian Rodríguez at FC Porto between 2008 and 2010, and with Falcao during 2009/10.

• Falcao and Rodríguez were on the losing side when Porto succumbed 1-0 at Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League group stage on 15 September 2009. The duo also featured in the return, Chelsea again winning 1-0.

• Juan Mata faced Atlético ten times while at Valencia CF, scoring once and emerging with a record of W2 D4 L4.

• Oriol Romeu made two appearances for Barcelona in 2010/11.

• Emre Belözoğlu scored five times in 58 league outings for Newcastle United FC between 2005 and 2008; he faced Chelsea five times in all competitions, with his record reading W1 D1 L3.

• Torres, Mata and Juanfran were in Spain's victorious UEFA EURO 2012 squad.

• Torres, Mata and Adrián López were part of the Spain side that defeated South Korea 4-1 in a pre-EURO friendly in Berne.

• Mata and Adrián were team-mates when eventual 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship winners Spain played out a 1-1 group stage draw with an England side that featured Daniel Sturridge and Ryan Bertrand.

• Filipe Luis' only cap for Brazil – a 0-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying draw against Venezuela in October 2009 – came with Chelsea's Ramires also in the side.