Ronaldo's crazy record against Atletico

The Portugal international has taken to the field against Atleti more times than any other opponent in his club career, 35, scoring a remarkable 25 goals against a team that was a derby opponent during his trophy-laden stay at Real Madrid.

He has also registered nine assists against them and picked up 11 yellow cards, perhaps illustrating there is understandably no love lost with the Rojiblanco.

🇵🇹 Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 25 goals in 35 games against Atlético, including two hat-tricks in the knockouts 🔥@Cristiano | #UCLdraw | #UCL pic.twitter.com/S4wUeLMgs2

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) December 14, 2021

The next most frequent opponents for Ronaldo are Barcelona, and he has managed 20 goals in 34 games against the Catalan giants.

However, his history with Atletico is worth examining in more detail. As has been pointed out, every knockout tie in the Champions League that the capital club lost between 2014 and 2019 was at the hands of a side containing Cristiano.

He was influential in their downfall in both the 2014 and 2016 finals of the competition.

In Lisbon, he provided the icing on the cake with a 120th-minute penalty to make it 4-1 in Real's favour, after Diego Godin's goal looked to be earning Atletico the trophy for the first time in their history.

Sergio Ramos popped up with a dramatic late leveller, with Gareth Bale and Marcelo also going on to score in extra-time.

Two years later, in Milan, Ronaldo struck the decisive penalty in the shoot-out after a 1-1 draw.

Cristiano continued to be the scourge of Atleti after moving to Juventus. In March 2019, the Madrid side held a commanding 2-0 lead from the first leg heading to Turin but were undone by a hat-trick from their nemesis.

Ronaldo netted two fine headers before completing the turnaround with a penalty, four minutes from time.

This came after another treble against them in the 2017 Champions League semi-finals.

He never faced Atletico while with United but will now get that opportunity after the two clubs were drawn together in European competition for the first time since 1991.