Atlético Madrid v FC Barcelona curiosities

Simeone has never beaten Barça as a manager, Messi has scored eight goals at the Vicente Calderón, and the last three meetings have all ended with the same score... this and other things worth knowing:

• Simeone has never beaten Barça as a manager. He has lost three league games and drew twice in the Spanish Supercup earlier this season.

• Former FCB man David Villa’s last goal for Barça was against his current team on September 24, 2011, in a 5-0 win.

• The three editions of this game at the Vicente Calderón have all ended with Barça winning 2-1.

• Leo Messi scored in two of those games. Dani Alves got the other in 2010/11 and it was Piqué in 2011/12. Last year, Alexis and Gabi (og) scored.

• Before winning those three consecutive matches, Barça had lost three in a row, 2-1, 4-3 and 4-2.

• Barça’s biggest league win at the Vicente Calderón was in 2006/07, when Zambrotta, Ronaldinho, Eto’o, Iniesta and Messi (2) scored in a 6-0 win.

• Messi has scored a total of 20 goals against the red-and-whites, and eight of those have been on the bank of the Manzanares.

• Atlético Madrid scored once in each of the two games played last season, both by Colombian striker Falcao, who is now at Monaco.

• Diego Costa is the home side’s top scorer this season with 19 goals. If he doesn’t score against Barça tonight, it will be the first time this season that he has gone two games without finding the net.