It’s incredible to think that when you look at the La Liga table, Arsenal have faced half of the 20 sides currently competing in Spain’s top-flight in Champions League action.

That number rises again when you also count Deportivo La Coruna, who are now languishing in the second tier while they were a formidable force in the early 2000s, and Tuesday will see us add to that total when Atletico Madrid come to north London.

While we’ve faced off in the Europa League, it will be the first time the Gunners have faced the Spanish giants in Europe’s premier competition. It promises to be a fascinating fixture, as many of our first encounters with Spanish sides in the competition have.

The Gunners didn’t get off to an auspicious start against the cream of La Liga, drawing and then losing against Barcelona in the 1999/00 group stages and then being ousted on away goals in the 2001 quarter final against Valencia, before a pair of 2-0 losses to Deportivo in 2001/02.

By the mid noughties though, we had more than found our feet. Two goals from Brazilian midfielder Edu, the second was a scorching curler from outside the box, and...