Offense wins games. Defense wins championships. That old saying transcends all sports when referring to a team's ability to make a run in a tournament. Defense has played a huge role in the Champions League runs for both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. But which side has the better defensive setup? Here is an analysis of how the team's top defenders compare.

Statistics paint a rather straightforward picture. Real Madrid has conceded nine goals in the tournament thus far while Atletico has allowed only six. Pretty easy to pick this one right? Wrong. The quality of competition plays a huge role in deciding this. Moreover, defense is more than just preventing goals.

Madrid has had to take on such teams as Juventus, Galatasaray, an injured Borussia Dortmund and the defending champions Bayern Munich. Atletico got through an extremely easy group and then took down a weak AC Milan side, a declining Barcelona team and a solid Chelsea side. Real Madrid has arguably had more difficult competition throughout the competition and was able to overcome arguably the best team in the entire contest in stunning fashion.

Real Madrid's most impressive feat thus far has been its incredible destruction of Bayern Munich. The team rarely had possession throughout that game and relied heavily on shutting down the gaps in the center of the field. Manager Carlo Ancelotti devised a brilliant game plan in each of the games against Munich that forced the German contingent to playing on the wings instead of in the middle. The end result was a brilliant 5-0 aggregate victory over both legs. But the dominance did not end there. The team's top center backs, Pepe and Sergio Ramos, were brilliant in completely destroying Munich's seeming aerial advantage throughout the contest. Crosses into the area were completely blocked away by Pepe and Ramos; the team's big goals in the air actually came from Ramos.

Atletico's defense meanwhile shutdown Barcelona's big weapons. The team looked well structured on the backend in those matches and managed to shutdown Barcelona's passing in outside the penalty area. The team also dominated Chelsea's rather ineffective defense, but that effort had a lot more to do with the team's emphasis on playing offense than on holding a strong fort in its own end.

Real Madrid's defenders are all solid passers. Ramos has averaged an 88.9 completion rate on his passes all year long to lead the pack while Coentrao has bottomed out with just 82 percent. Meanwhile passing is not a strong point for most of Atletico's defenders; Filipe Luis is the team's most successful passer with an average of 82.1 completion. Of course that has a lot to do with the two sides' playing style. While Real Madrid emphasizes possession under Ancelotti, Diego Simeone's Atletico is about transition and quick movement. The defenders are not expected to pass around the back as often as Madrid's defenders are.

The aerial battle will be crucial to both sides as both sides are solid at protecting against set pieces. Atletico has an overall height advantage. The team's main defenders are all at least 180 cm or more. Diego Godin measures 185cm; Luis is the tallest at 188cm; Miranda is 185cm; and Juanfran is the shortest at 181cm. Real Madrid's tallest forward is Karim Benzema and he is only 187cm. Inversely, Los Blancos' tallest defender is Raphael Varane at 191cm while Pepe measures 188cm. Ramos is only 183 while Dani Carvajal measures 171cm. However, Varane has not been started in the last few Champions League matches and it is likely that Pepe and Ramos get the call from Ancelotti. Atletico's tallest forward is the 188cm Diego Costa, who also happens to be the team's most dominant striker.

Offensively, the two team's defenses are also very different. Ramos dominated Munich with two header goals and has four goals this year; Pepe also has four goals on the year. Carvajal has two goals and is known for pushing up on the wings and putting tremendous pressure on the opposition's defense. The same goes for Coentrao and Marcelo on the left side; Coentrao assisted on Benzema's goal against Munich in the first leg. Speed is of tremendous importance for Real Madrid on the flanks and this could alter the dynamic between the two sides as speed and offense is not the major priority for Atletico's defenders. Godin has three goals while Miranda has two; the other two main defenders for the team are not particularly offensive players.

One final note. The two sides have met four times this year. Real Madrid was outscored 3-2 in the two Spanish League matches but outscored Atletico 5-0 in two Copa del Rey matches. Also worthy of note is the fact that Atletico Madrid has only conceded 24 goals in the Spanish League while Real Madrid has allowed 35.

So who has the edge on defense?

Both teams' defenses emphasize different things. Real Madrid's defense is more offensive-minded and has greater speed on the flanks to facilitate the team's high-scoring possession game. Atletico's defense is more conservative in its approach and generally concedes less space around its goal. The numbers indicate that Atletico's defense is more effective at protecting their own net but Madrid's defenders are more capable of creating offense. Regardless, Los Colchoneros gets the edge here.