Atletico Madrid History shows it's possible... but only just

Only five teams have ever qualified for the next round of the Champions League with no wins from the first four matches and with three of fewer points at this stage, but Atletico Madrid hope to become the sixth such team to squeeze into the last 16.

Looking back at the competition's history, just 4.1 percent of clubs to have fewer than four points at this stage have survived, while teams not to have a win from their first four games have only made it through 4.7 percent of the time.

Combining those scenarios and numbers, to reflect Los Rojiblancos' current position, just 3.4 percent have been able to stay alive.

Liverpool were the first team to bounce back from such a poor start, doing so in the 2001/02 season at Roma's expense, something which Diego Simeone's men can take inspiration from.

The next season Lokomotiv Moscow arrived at the fifth matchday with just one solitary point to their name, yet wins over Galatasaray and Bruges took them to seven points, which proved to be enough.

A great escape took place again in 2004/05 when Porto won their final two matches to claim eight points and a berth in the next round, while the 2009/10 Stuttgart team also won their last couple of games to progress.

The most recent example also involved Roma, when Manchester City did just enough to join Bayern Munich in the next round three seasons ago.