2008–09 Atlético Madrid season

The 2008–09 season saw Atlético Madrid return to the UEFA Champions League after an eleven-year absence. The team marked the return with an impressive group stage performance, only denied winning the group by a late penalty for Liverpool at Anfield. In the round of 16, Atlético went out on away goals to Porto, being denied entry to the last eight.

Atlético Madrid

2008–09 season
President	Enrique Cerezo
Head coach	Javier Aguirre (until 2 February 2009) Abel Resino (from 2 February 2009)
Stadium	Vicente Calderón
La Liga	4th
Copa del Rey	Quarter-finals
UEFA Champions League	Round of 16
Top goalscorer	League: Diego Forlán (32) All: Diego Forlán (35)
Home colours Away colours

In the league, Atlético repeated the 4th place of 2007–08, improving on the previous season by three points. Uruguayan striker Diego Forlán had a tremendous season, scoring 32 league goals, the highest amount of La Liga goals for a single player in a decade.

Squad

Goalkeepers

• Grégory Coupet (1)
• Leo Franco (25)
• Ángel Bernabé (27)

Defenders

• Giourkas Seitaridis (2)
• Antonio López (3)
• Mariano Pernía (4)
• John Heitinga (5)
• Tomáš Ujfaluši (17)
• Luis Perea (21)
• Pablo Ibáñez (22)
• Álvaro Domínguez (28)
• Zé Castro
• Juan Valera

Midfielders

• Raúl García (8)
• Maxi Rodríguez (C) (11)
• Paulo Assunção (12)
• Éver Banega (16)
• Maniche (18)
• Miguel de las Cuevas (19)
• Simão (20)
• Ignacio Camacho (24)
• Keko (29/33 in UEFA Champions League)
• José Manuel Jurado
• Cléber

Attackers

• Diego Forlán (7)
• Luis García (9)
• Sergio Agüero (10)
• Florent Sinama Pongolle (14)

Competitions

La Liga

Main article: 2008–09 La Liga

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
2	Real Madrid	38	25	3	10	83	52	+31	78	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
3	Sevilla	38	21	7	10	54	39	+15	70
4	Atlético Madrid	38	20	7	11	80	57	+23	67	Qualification for the Champions League play-off round
5	Villarreal	38	18	11	9	61	54	+7	65	Qualification for the Europa League play-off round
6	Valencia	38	18	8	12	68	54	+14	62

Source: LFP and Yahoo! Sport
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.

Matches

• Atlético Madrid-Málaga 4-0
• 1-0 John Heitinga  26'
• 2-0 Diego Forlán  38'
• 3-0 Diego Forlán  43' (pen.)
• 4-0 Florent Sinama Pongolle  80'
• Valladolid-Atlético Madrid 2-1
• 1-0 Ángel Vivar Dorado  3'
• 2-0 Javier Baraja  28'
• 2-1 Sergio Agüero  54'
• Atlético Madrid-Recreativo Huelva 4-0
• 1-0 Sergio Agüero  7'
• 2-0 Maniche  52'
• 3-0 Florent Sinama Pongolle  78'
• 4-0 Florent Sinama Pongolle  88'
• Getafe-Atlético Madrid 1-2
• 0-1 Florent Sinama Pongolle  29'
• 1-1 Juan Ángel Albín  75'
• 1-2 David Cortés  82' (o.g.)
• Atlético Madrid-Sevilla 0-1
• 0-1 Luís Fabiano  21'
• Barcelona-Atlético Madrid 6-1
• 1-0 Rafael Márquez  3'
• 2-0 Samuel Eto'o  5'
• 3-0 Lionel Messi  9'
• 3-1 Maxi Rodríguez  13'
• 4-1 Samuel Eto'o  18'
• 5-1 Eiður Guðjohnsen  28'
• 6-1 Thierry Henry  73'
• Atlético Madrid-Real Madrid 1-2
• 0-1 Ruud van Nistelrooy  1'
• 0-2 Gonzalo Higuaín  90' (pen.)
• 1-2 Simão  90'
• Villareal-Atlético Madrid 4-4
• 0-1 Simão  1'
• 0-2 Diego Forlán  22'
• 1-2 Marcos Senna  47'
• 2-2 Joseba Llorente  51'
• 3-2 Gonzalo Rodríguez  57'
• 4-2 Giuseppe Rossi  67'
• 4-3 Simão  83'
• 4-4 Raúl García  85'
• Atlético Madrid-Mallorca 2-0
• 1-0 Sergio Agüero  13'
• 2-0 Sergio Agüero  27'
• Osasuna-Atlético Madrid 0-0
• Atlético Madrid-Deportivo 4-1
• 1-0 John Heitinga  26'
• 2-0 Diego Forlán  51'
• 3-0 Maxi Rodríguez  66'
• 4-0 Diego Forlán  80'
• 4-1 Filipe Luís  86'
• Numancia-Atlético Madrid 1-1
• 0-1 Diego Forlán  35'
• 1-1 José Barkero  90' (pen.)
• Atlético Madrid-Racing Santander 4-1
• 0-1 Mohammed Tchité  7'
• 1-1 Simão  21'
• 2-1 Sergio Agüero  34'
• 3-1 Diego Forlán  78'
• 4-1 Diego Forlán  81'
• Sporting Gijón-Atlético Madrid 2-5
• 1-0 Mate Bilić  4'
• 1-1 Sergio Agüero  5'
• 1-2 Sergio Agüero  41'
• 1-3 Diego Forlán  55'
• 2-3 David Barral  60'
• 2-4 Maxi Rodríguez  72'
• 2-5 Diego Forlán  80'
• Atlético Madrid-Betis 2-0
• 1-0 Maxi Rodríguez  20'
• 2-0 Sergio Agüero  81'
• Espanyol-Atlético Madrid 2-3
• 0-1 Maxi Rodríguez  7'
• 1-1 Sergio Sánchez  58'
• 1-2 Sergio Agüero  81'
• 1-3 Maxi Rodríguez  90'
• 2-3 Valdo  90'
• Valencia-Atlético Madrid 3-1
• 1-0 David Villa  33' (pen.)
• 2-0 David Silva  39'
• 2-1 Diego Forlán  45' (pen.)
• 3-1 David Silva  68'
• Atlético Madrid-Athletic Bilbao 2-3
• 1-0 Antonio López  15'
• 1-1 Koikili  45'
• 1-2 Fernando Llorente  50'
• 1-3 Fernando Llorente  66'
• 2-3 Diego Forlán  90'
• Almería-Atlético Madrid 1-1
• 1-0 Kalu Uche  6'
• 1-1 Florent Sinama Pongolle  22'
• Málaga-Atlético Madrid 1-1
• 1-0 Apoño  22'
• 1-1 John Heitinga  44'
• Atlético Madrid-Valladolid 1-2
• 0-1 Luis Prieto  50'
• 1-1 José García Calvo  56' (o.g.)
• 1-2 Víctor  78'
• Recreativo Huelva-Atlético Madrid 0-3
• 0-1 Sergio Agüero  3'
• 0-2 Diego Forlán  28'
• 0-3 Diego Forlán  35'
• Atlético Madrid-Getafe 1-1
• 1-0 Diego Forlán  33'
• 1-1 Juan Ángel Albín  88'
• Sevilla-Atlético Madrid 1-0
• 1-0 Jesús Navas  87'
• Atlético Madrid-Barcelona 4-3
• 0-1 Thierry Henry  19'
• 0-2 Lionel Messi  33'
• 1-2 Diego Forlán  32'
• 2-2 Sergio Agüero  56'
• 2-3 Thierry Henry  73'
• 3-3 Diego Forlán  80' (pen.)
• 4-3 Sergio Agüero  89'
• Real Madrid-Atlético Madrid 1-1
• 0-1 Diego Forlán  38'
• 1-1 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar  57'
• Atlético Madrid-Villareal 3-2
• 0-1 Matías Fernández  19'
• 0-2 Cani  52'
• 1-2 Sergio Agüero  53'
• 2-2 Diego Forlán  81'
• 3-2 Antonio López  83'
• Mallorca-Atlético Madrid 2-0
• 1-0 Aritz Aduriz  24'
• 2-0 Chory Castro  90'
• Atlético Madrid-Osasuna 2-4
• 0-1 Walter Pandiani  8'
• 1-1 Diego Forlán  15'
• 1-2 Krisztián Vadócz  44'
• 1-3 Walter Pandiani  48'
• 1-4 Masoud Shojaei  69'
• 2-4 Pablo Ibáñez  74'
• Deportivo-Atlético Madrid 1-2
• 0-1 Sergio Agüero  45'
• 0-2 Simão  70'
• 1-2 Rodolfo Bodipo  87'
• Atlético Madrid-Numancia 3-0
• 1-0 Éver Banega  62'
• 2-0 Diego Forlán  79'
• 3-0 Simão  90'
• Racing Santander-Atlético Madrid 5-1
• 1-0 Christian  9'
• 2-0 Ezequiel Garay  16'
• 3-0 Mohammed Tchité  38'
• 3-1 Diego Forlán  61' (pen.)
• 4-1 Pedro Munitis  65'
• 5-1 Nikola Žigić  87'
• Atlético Madrid-Sporting Gijón 3-1
• 1-0 Diego Forlán  27'
• 2-0 Simão  41'
• 3-0 Sergio Agüero  47'
• 3-1 Mate Bilić  48'
• Betis-Atlético Madrid 0-2
• 0-1 Diego Forlán  13'
• 0-2 Diego Forlán  89'
• Atlético Madrid-Espanyol 3-2
• 0-1 Nenê  39' (pen.)
• 0-2 Dani Jarque  40'
• 1-2 Diego Forlán  53'
• 2-2 Sergio Agüero  60'
• 3-2 Diego Forlán  90'
• Atlético Madrid-Valencia 1-0
• 1-0 Diego Forlán  30' (pen.)
• Athletic Bilbao-Atlético Madrid 1-4
• 0-1 Raúl García  59'
• 1-1 Xabier Etxeita  68'
• 1-2 Diego Forlán  73'
• 1-3 Diego Forlán  78'
• 1-4 Diego Forlán  87' (pen.)
• Atlético Madrid-Almería 3-0
• 1-0 Sergio Agüero  19'
• 2-0 Raúl García  27'
• 3-0 Diego Forlán  50'

Top scorers

La Liga

• Diego Forlán 32
• Sergio Agüero 17
• Simão 7
• Maxi Rodríguez 5
• Florent Sinama Pongolle 5