YNWA looks back at our four previous pre-season encounters with Club Atlético de Madrid as we prepare to entertain them in the Champions League on Tuesday evening. We also look back at our previous visits to Spain in continental competition, including our meeting with Los Rojiblancos last month.

Previously against Los Rojiblancos
Two weeks ago, Robbie Keane gave us the lead in Spain, with Simão Sabrosa netting a late equaliser to ensure we left with a share of the spoils, with Rafael Benítez resting Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso as the second half progressed.

We also played at the Estadio Vicente Calderón on four previous occasions, with these pre-season fixtures resulting in three defeats and just one victory. Mark Lawrenson made his reds bow in our 2-1 friendly defeat in August 1981, with Ray Kennedy bagging our goal. We lost by the same score two years later, when David Hodgson struck in La Linea Tournament. We claimed the Villa De Madrid Trophy in August 1987, beating the host club with John Wark netting the only goal. The following year, we were trounced 5-1 in the T Herrera Tournament. Substitute Ray Houghton scored our consolation goal, whil Alan Hansen dislocated his left knee in this game, keeping him out until the following May.

Champions League victories
Our three most recent trips to Spain prior to this campaign have all resulted in wins, most recently in February 2007 when we came from behind to win 2-1 at Barcelona in the first leg of our round of sixteen meeting. The game was played in the aftermath of a stormy bonding trip to Portugal, with Craig Bellamy allegedly attacking John Arne Riise with a golf club. Perhaps inevitably, it was these two players who struck our goals, with Bellamy celebrating what was to be his final reds strike with an imaginary golf swing! Riise's winner was our 250th goal in the European Cup.

We won 2-1 in the Estadio Manuel Ruiz de Lopera to see off Real Betis Balompié in a group stage game in September 2005. Florent Sinama-Pongolle opened the scoring with Luis García also on target, both of whom are now plying their trade with our latest Spanish opponents. We won 1-0 at Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña in the group stage in November on the way to glory in Istanbul, thanks to a Jorge Andrade own goal, with Igor Bišcan running the midfield in the absence of Steven Gerrard. Keeper Chris Kirkland was briefly knocked unconscious by the clumsy Croatian during the second half.

Also in the Champions League
We twice travelled to Spain in the Champions League during 2002, firstly when we held Barcelona to a goalless draw in March, to keep us on course for the knock-out phase, as we then needed to beat Roma by two clear goals at Anfield to be sure of a place in the Quarter-finals. Milan Baroš made his debut as a substitute, while Nick Barmby was playing his 58th and final reds game, as a late replacement for Steven Gerrard, although he sat on the bench on a further five occasions that season.

Rafael Benítez's Valencia beat us 2-0 victory in September of the same year, thanks to goals from Pablo Aimar and Ruben Baraja, with Dietmar Hamann dismissed for two bookable offences. Salif Diao was given the run-around at centre-back, and Jerzy Dudek said, "We didn't close down quickly enough and we weren't strong enough. We played like girls."

UEFA Cup glory
We have twice reached the UEFA Cup Final at Barcelona's expense. John Toshack grabbed the only goal of the first leg in the Camp Nou in March 1976 as we dominated the match from the start, despite Barca's line-up including the Dutch maestros Cruyff and Neeskens, with a 1-1 draw in the return enough to take us through to face Club Brugge. This was Barcelona's first home defeat by English opposition in European competition, and thousands of home fans vented their frustration during the second half by hurling seat cushions onto the pitch, holding up the game for a while.

We had already seen off Spanish opposition earlier in the competition, winning 3-1 at Real Sociedad in October 1975, with Steve Heighway, Ian Callaghan and Phil Thompson on the scoresheet. This was an especially notable result as the Spanish outfit had been unbeaten at home in the League for the previous two years. We trounced them 6-0 in the return to reach the Third Round. Fifteen years later, we became only the second team ever to stop the Catalan outfit from scoring in both legs of a European tie as the game ended goalless. The Spanish giants had only twice previously failed to score at home that season. Future reds keeper Pepe Reina was in the home goal, while Bolo Zenden made an appearance for the home side from the bench. Gary McAllister netted from the spot after Patrick Kluivert's needless handball in the Anfield return.

To the Basque country
We were dumped out of the Fairs Cup by Athletic de Bilbao in October 1968, losing on the toss of a disc. We lost the first leg in Spain 2-1, with Roger Hunt on target. The second leg ended 2-1 in our favour, but after extra time failed to add to the scoring we exited in cruel fashion. A coloured disc was used with skipper Ron Yeats allocated the red side and the Spaniards white, according to the team colours. Red was unfortunately not the colour that night. We returned to Bilbao fifteen years later, when an Ian Rush header was enough to take us through to the Third Round, en route to our fourth European Cup, after we had been held to a goalless draw at Anfield.

UEFA Cup disappointments
We twice visited Spain during our short-lived 1998/99 UEFA Cup campaign, winning neither game. In November, we squeezed past Valencia on the away goals rule, having been held to a goalless draw at Anfield. Steve McManaman and Patrik Berger netted our goals in the Mestalla, while Paul Ince, McManaman and Valencia's Amadeo Carboni were all sent off at the death. However, we lost 3-1 to Celta de Vigo later that month, with Michael Owen opening the scoring. We also lost the second leg to crash out at the Third Round stage.