Speaking at a press conference today, the Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone presented the match against Leipzig: “Pros and cons of the new format? Only positives. You have to win and get points. It doesn’t matter who you play against. There are no numbers where a draw can help you. You have to win. We have already seen how the strong teams started.
I saw Liverpool-Milan, which I really liked. Very dynamic and fun. We will see a Champions League that is more fun for people because teams have to win. We will have to compete hard because they are all difficult and complex, every opponent has grown a lot in Europe and anyone puts you in difficulty. This is the twelfth year, for Atletico fans, for the club, it was a giant step. We have to be up to it, expect more from ourselves, knowing the difficulties and not moving away from game to game”.
Leipzig? They are a team that plays very well, that has played several games. Against Leverkusen they defended and went out on the counterattack. Against Unión Berlin they attacked all game and went on the counterattack, Unión Berlin attacked all game, with many fast players, tall and strong people in defense, who jumped continuously under pressure. We will see what we find. We have seen both versions: one attacking and the other that takes refuge very well and goes out on the counterattack.”