Before the first leg of their Quarter final series against Barcelona, Atletico's coach Diego Simeone and striker Fernando Torres shared their thoughts about their opponent, confident that they will have a fighting chance to defeat Los Blaugranas as they did last year in the UEFA Champions League semifinal. While "El Cholo" refused to talk about his starting lineup for tomorrow's match, he did talk about how Atletico should face Barcelona on the pitch.
"We have to start the game better than last time. We had complications doing what we do best, and they took advantage of it. We will face the best Barcelona, and they can give us a hard time. I don't care about having the ball, we have to get the ball to the wings, and if we can do that, we may surprise them," the coach stated.
The Argentinian coach will not send someone in particular to guard Lionel Messi. He is confident his players will perform their duties correctly and do what's best for the team.
"Even though recovering the ball and distributing our men correctly on the pitch are key factors, we have to know how to attack. As long as we know how to do that, defending him won't matter. We just have to be smart enought to understand where to attack them," Simeone added.
Torres praises Atletico's current run
Having returned in style with his beloved Colchoneros, striker Fernando Torres assured his club will put up a good fight against the Blaugranas. Furthermore, he praised the team's form this past couple of years, boosting their chances to win against Los culés.
"Thank God there's a third team in the form of Atlético, which has been able to beat them and which can stand up to them in every competition these days. We're a difficult team to beat," Torres said.
