Chelsea meet Atletico Madrid again - Lampard's reaction, head-to-head, and my view
It's the return of Diego Costa in the last 16 of the Champions League, but it remains advantage Chelsea
Chelsea will welcome a familiar face back to Stamford Bridge when they take on Atletico Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Diego Costa quickly became a fan favourite at Chelsea for his character off the pitch, and his ability on it.
He is every defenders nightmare and would could bully any Premier League centre back on his day; this is what saw him become such a popular figure at the Bridge, as well as his goals of course.
But after a fall out with Antonio Conte, he left the club and now returns as the opposition.
Frank Lampard says that Chelsea have been handed the ‘toughest draw’ they could have, and he isn’t wrong. Atletico currently sit second in La Liga at the time of writing, with only goal difference keeping them from the top.
They have a fantastic manager in Diego Simeone, and he has been building quite the squad there in recent years.
Chelsea are no strangers to facing them in Europe though, and the last time they actually came away as winners. They were in the same Champions League group in 2017 and Chelsea beat them 2-1 in the first game, and drew 1-1 in the second.
The win ironically saw Alvaro Morata score against the club he ended up joining, and a late winner from Michy Batshuayi.
But it wasn’t as fun in 2014 when Atletico knocked Chelsea out of the Champions League Semi Finals winning 3-1 on aggregate.
One of Atletico’s goal scorers that day? Yes you guessed it, Diego Costa!
In their head-to-head, the two sides have met 7 times, both have won twice each, and drawn on 3 occasions. Not much to sperate them historically.
But Lampard says “all draws are difficult in the Champions League, we have to have belief in ourselves, we have to beat these teams if we want to win it."
And he is absolutely bang on with that. Not one person alive expected Chelsea to win the Champions League in 2012, and they did it against all the odds.
Anything is possible in this game, and Chelsea absolutely can beat Atletico Madrid despite them being one of the more difficult ties.