UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE 2011/12 SEASON MATCH PRESS KIT Club Atlético de Madrid Athletic Club Matchday 15 - Final National Arena, Bucharest Wednesday 9 May 2012 20.45CET (21.45 local time) Contents Previous meetings.............................................................................................................2 Match background.............................................................................................................3 Team facts.........................................................................................................................7 Squad list...........................................................................................................................9 Head coach.....................................................................................................................11 Fixtures and results.........................................................................................................12 Match-by-match lineups..................................................................................................16 Match officials..................................................................................................................20 Legend............................................................................................................................21 This press kit includes information relating to this UEFA Europa League match. For more detailed factual information, and in-depth competition statistics, please refer to the matchweek press kit, which can be downloaded at: http://www.uefa.com/uefa/mediaservices/presskits/index.html Club Atlético de Madrid - Athletic Club Wednesday 9 May 2012 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) MATCH PRESS KIT National Arena, Bucharest Previous meetings Head to Head None Club Atlético de Madrid - Record versus clubs from opponents' country UEFA Europa League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 26/04/12 SF Valencia CF - Club Atlético de Madrid 0-1 Valencia Adrián López 60 agg: 2-5 19/04/12 SF Club Atlético de Madrid - Valencia CF 4-2 Madrid Falcao 18, 79, Miranda 49, Adrián López 54; Jonas 45+2, Ricardo Costa 90+4 UEFA Europa League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 08/04/10 QF Club Atlético de Madrid - Valencia CF 0-0 Madrid agg: 2-2 ag 01/04/10 QF Valencia CF - Club Atlético de Madrid 2-2 Valencia Manuel Fernandes 66, Villa 82; Forlán 59, Antonio López 72 UEFA Intertoto Cup Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 24/08/04 F Club Atlético de Madrid - Villarreal CF 2-0 Madrid Ibagaza 47, García Calvo 58 agg: 2-2 aet (1-3pens) 10/08/04 F Villarreal CF - Club Atlético de Madrid 2-0 Villarreal Roger García 56, Gonzalo Rodríguez 77 UEFA Cup Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 08/12/98 R3 Club Atlético de Madrid - 4-1 Madrid Jugović 16, 45(p), Santi 95 ET, José Real Sociedad de Fútbol agg 5-3 (aet) Marí 97 ET; Gracia 49 24/11/98 R3 Real Sociedad de Fútbol - 2-1 San Sebastian Kovačević 45+1, Roberto 85(og); Club Atlético de Madrid Juninho 3 European Champion Clubs' Cup Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 13/05/59 SF Real Madrid CF - Club Atlético de Madrid 2-1 (Rep) Zaragoza Di Stéfano 16, Puskás 42; Collar 18 07/05/59 SF Club Atlético de Madrid - Real Madrid CF 1-0 Madrid Collar 43 agg: 2-2 23/04/59 SF Real Madrid CF - Club Atlético de Madrid 2-1 Madrid Rial 15, Puskás 33(p); Chuzo 13 Athletic Club - Record versus clubs from opponents' country UEFA Cup Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 16/03/77 QF FC Barcelona - Athletic Club 2-2 Barcelona Cruyff 24, 63; Irureta 13, 29 agg: 3-4 03/03/77 QF Athletic Club - FC Barcelona 2-1 Bilbao Churruca 40, Dani 63(p); Asensi 13 Record versus clubs from opponents' country Home Away Final Total Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA Club Atlético de Madrid 4 3 1 0 5 1 1 3 2 1 0 1 11 5 2 4 17 13 Athletic Club 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 4 3 Last updated 07/05/12 17:12:03CET 2 Previous meetings Club Atlético de Madrid - Athletic Club Wednesday 9 May 2012 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) MATCH PRESS KIT National Arena, Bucharest Match background With the same home colours and similar names, there will be no need for introductions when Club Atlético de Madrid and Athletic Club meet in the all-Spanish UEFA Europa League final in Bucharest. Previous meetings • The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA club competition. • Atlético have had marginally the better of the sides' 150 domestic league meetings, with 64 wins to Athletic's 59. • The clubs' first Liga encounter came in the inaugural Spanish championship campaign in 1929. By then they had already contested one Copa del Rey final, Athletic winning 4-1 in 1921. Athletic prevailed 2-1 when they next met in the showpiece in 1956, but it was Atlético's turn in their most recent showdown in 1985. Hugo Sánchez struck twice for Luis Aragonés's side before Julio Salinas pulled a goal back for Javier Clemente's Athletic in a final played at the Santiago Bernabéu. • Atlético have played 11 UEFA games against other Spanish sides, including home and away victories against Valencia CF in this season's semi-finals. Their overall record is W5 D2 L4. Those results include the 1958/59 European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-final against neighbours Real Madrid CF, which Atlético lost on a replay in Zaragoza after trading home wins. • If you break those 11 games down into five ties, Atlético have won three and lost two. • Athletic were victorious in their only previous tie against a fellow Spanish club in Europe, beating FC Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate in the 1976/77 UEFA Cup quarter-finals. They face the Catalan side again in this season's Spanish Cup final on 25 May, at Atlético's Estadio Vicente Calderón. • Athletic may have less European final experience but they share with Barcelona the record for second-most Copa del Rey final appearances – 35 ahead of the clubs' showdown in this season's final (Real Madrid have the most with 37, including 18 wins). The Basque club have won 23 editions of the Copa del Rey to Atlético's nine. • Although Athletic lead 2-1 in Copa del Rey final meetings, there has been little between the sides in recent Liga encounters. Since the 1999/2000 season Atlético have posted ten victories to Athletic's nine from 22 matches. • This term Athletic won their home Liga fixture 3-0 in October with the help of two Fernando Llorente goals, but a Falcao double consigned them to a 2-1 loss at the Vicente Calderón in March. Match background • Atlético come into the final on an 11-game UEFA Europa League winning streak (including five victories on their travels), since losing 2-0 at Udinese Calcio in the group stage. • The final will be Atlético's 100th game in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League. • Atlético have scored more goals in this season's competition than any other side, 30, with Athletic second in that ranking with 28 in their 14 fixtures since the start of the group stage. • Both Atlético and Athletic's goals have been evenly divided between the two halves. • This is the first final in this competition since the last all-Spanish decider in 2006/07 not to feature a team that had transferred into the round of 32 from the UEFA Champions League group stage. Team facts • Atlético's Falcao is level with FC Schalke 04's Klaas-Jan Huntelaar at the top of the UEFA Europa League top scorers' table with ten goals. The Colombia striker set a record in 2010/11 with 17 goals in FC Porto's triumphant campaign. No player has ended up as top scorer in successive editions of this competition before. • Atlético also boast the next highest scorer in the competition in eight-goal Adrián López, with Athletic's leading marksman Fernando Llorente one strike behind him on seven. • Adrián and Falcao are the only players to have featured in all 14 of Atlético's games since the start of the group stage, starting 12 each. Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who is on loan from UEFA Champions League finalists Chelsea FC, is the only Atlético player to have made more starts, 13. • Courtois has also played the most minutes of any Atlético player in this season's competition, 1,170, ahead of Falcao (1,125) and defender Diego Godín (1,080). Courtois will celebrate his 20th birthday on 11 May, two days after the final. Last updated 07/05/12 17:12:03CET 3 Match background Club Atlético de Madrid - Athletic Club Wednesday 9 May 2012 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) MATCH PRESS KIT National Arena, Bucharest • Markel Susaeta, Iker Muniain and defender Andoni Iraola have played in all 14 of Athletic's games, starting 13 each, as have Llorente and goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz. • Iraola leads the way in terms of competitive minutes with 1,188, just ahead of Iraizoz (1,170), Muniain (1,137) and Susaeta (1,126). • Atlético's Diego tops the rankings in terms of UEFA Europa League assists, with six since the start of the group stage. • Atlético midfielder Gabi and his Athletic counterpart Ander Herrera were team-mates at Real Zaragoza (2009–11). • Athletic midfielder David López and Atlético winger Juanfran played together at CA Osasuna in the 2006/07 campaign. The coaches • Diego Simeone replaced Gregorio Manzano as Atlético coach on 23 December. The former Argentina midfielder had two spells at the club as a player, winning a domestic double in 1995/96. He lifted the 1997/98 UEFA Cup with FC Internazionale Milano and is coaching in Europe for a second time, having helped Calcio Catania avoid relegation from Serie A in 2010/11. • Athletic's coach is former Argentina defender Marcelo Bielsa, who briefly led Espanyol in 1998 before taking charge of Argentina (1998–2004) and Chile (2007–11). This is his first season as a player or coach in UEFA club competition. • The two men know each other well; Bielsa was Simeone's coach with Argentina between 1998 and 2002. Both were involved in Argentina's 2002 FIFA World Cup campaign, where they failed to progress beyond the group stage.