Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone believes Real Madrid will look to defend and hit his side on the break in a Champions League final that is “50-50”.
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“World class players like Ronaldo have been leading us for years, and I trust him to do the same in the final”.
“I think they are playing the worst team they could play because Atletico are a really, really tough team”.
Here, Football.co.uk analyses where Saturday’s Champions League final at Milan’s San Siro might be won and lost.
This year, Simeone’s side were out of contention by the time the final La Liga weekend came around, and have had two weeks to prepare for the date in Rome on May 28 with a fully fit squad. “The presence of Casemiro in midfield has given them a lot of power defensively and in the Champions League they have played on the counter-attack”.
Year in and year out, most Spanish teams begin the season fighting to either avoid relegation or, at the most, earn a spot in European competition.
“To play in the final of the Champions League is a dream. They did really well”. We know that when we play this kind of game, we are going to do things well. It would be fantastic for him to win the trophy, he’s already done a fantastic job, he’s changed the attitude of the players.
Their respective semi-final victories over Manchester City and Bayern Munich meant Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid earned the right to take their famous capital city derby to Milan for one night only.
Beckham said Zidane is one special player, highlighting that he won everything, was chosen the best player in the world several times, stressing that there is no former player who garners more respect and admiration as much as Zidane does.
On their way to the final, Atletico brushed aside the reigning champions of the Dutch, Spanish and German leagues, but their star midfielder insists that on the night of the final, this counts for very little.
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“It’s a pity that we couldn’t win the league but the team still feels confident. Their second half of the season was fantastic and they got to within a point of winning the league”.
