Atletico Madrid Preview

By Mark Heys
February 13 2008

The Reebok Stadium is expected to witness its biggest ever UEFA Cup crowd tommorow evening when Bolton Wanderers take on Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the final stages of the competition.

The introduction of a new singing section has lead to over 20,000 tickets being sold prior to the game and Wanderers hope not to disappoint in front of their own crowd .

Atletico will provide one of the strongest ever European tests for Bolton, they are fourth in the Spanish La Liga and are currently on a good run of form which has seen them undefeated in four out of the last six games.

Bolton on the other hand have won once in the last six, although it has to be said that two of those matches ended up in goalless draws against Fulham and Newcastle United.

Wanderers boss Gary Megson will be without the ineligable Gretar Steinsson and Tamir Cohen as both played for their previous clubs in this competition.

Former Real Madrid star Ivan Campo will play his first European match of the season for Bolton after being registered by Megson in the revised squad.

Also set to feature are recent signings Matthew Taylor and Gary Cahill but there is no place in the European squad for on-loan Grzegorz Rasiak.

Atletico head coach Javier Aguirre has added reserve players Alex Quillo and Alvaro Dominguez to the squad which visits England but Raul Garcia and namesake Luis Garcia are suspended.

For Luis Garcia it would have marked a momentus return to the Reebok Stadium as he made his debut for Liverpool at the venue in August 2004.

Aguirre is also without the injured Leo Franco, Juan Valera, Ze Castro, Thiago Motta and Giourkas Seitaridis but ex-Manchester United forward Diego Forlan and the one time Arsenal player Jose Antonio Reyes are included.

This is, of course, only half time in the tie as Wanderers will have to travel over to the Vicente Calderon next week to complete the second leg.

Bolton reached this stage of the competition in 2005-2006 before crashing out to Olympique Marseille over two legs so the Trotters will be keen to go one better this time around.

LAST TIME WE MET:

N/A

PLAYED FOR BOTH:

Salva Ballesta, Quinton Fortune, Javi Moreno

DID YOU KNOW:

Deportivo Alaves where the first Spanish team to visit the Reebok Stadium for a friendly in the summer of 2001. Since then Malaga, Sevilla and Real Zaragoza have all played at the venue.

In the case of Sevilla they are the only Spanish side to come to Bolton to take part in a proper competitive match. They drew 1-1 with the Wanderers in December 2005 in what was the final game of UEFA Cup Group H

As well as Ivan Campo, Bolton have had other Spanish players represent them over the years including Salva Ballesta, Javi Moreno, Oscar Perez. Cesar Martin and Mikel Alonso but the most famous is Fernando Hierro who won numerous titles with Atletico's deadly rivals Real Madrid.