Real Madrid might be favourites to win the Champions League final, but opponents Atletico have attracted more attention on Twitter.
Diego Simeone’s team have been responsible for the three biggest Champions League moments on the social network, according to data provided to SportsJOE.
This may be down to Atleti’s underdog story and their chance to gain revenge for their 2014 final defeat suffered at the hands of their neighbours.
Some 56,000 tweets per minute were sent when Fernando Torres and Co. clinched their place in Saturday’s Milan decider but that wasn’t even the biggest moment.
That honour went to the 76,000 tweets sent when the final whistle blew at Estadio Vicente Calderon on April 13 to confirm Atleti’s elimination of Barcelona, while Antoine Griezmann’s penalty in the same game saw 56,000 tweets sent in a single minute.
GRIEZMANN AND SIMEONE ARE HAPPY THE WORLD IS A WONDERFUL PLACE
— Ryan Rosenblatt (@RyanRosenblatt) April 13, 2016
The underdogs had the most tweeted-about individual in the form of manager Simeone, though Real Madrid’s players proved more popular than their counterparts on the other side of the Spanish capital.
More tweets were sent about Cristiano Ronaldo than about all of Atleti’s players combined, though three of Simeone’s squad did make the top 10 (albeit behind Ronaldo and his team-mate Gareth Bale).
Both Fernando Torres (who notably missed a penalty in the semi-final) and Griezmann (who scored his against Barcelona) made the cut, while goalkeeper Jan Oblak ranked eighth after saving Thomas Muller’s spot-kick at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena.
Real Madrid face Atletico Madrid at the San Siro on Saturday in a repeat of the 2014 final, which Los Blancos won 4-1 after extra-time.
