Liverpool Georginio Wijnaldum has warned his teammates that they will have to be at their fighting best if they want to leave Madrid with a win under their belt tonight.
Hosting the Reds at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium at 10pm is an Atletico Madrid team that has a similar fighting spirit to that of Liverpool, according to Wijnaldum.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/Atleti?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Atleti(A) ⚽️ Back in @ChampionsLeague action tonight 💪 pic.twitter.com/FLOGnG6iDr
— Liverpool FC (@LFC)
He says: “They [Atletico] are a lot like us, fighters. They are a team more or less like us, also really difficult to beat.
“I think you can see that in their playing style in the competition.
“They are always battling to get results and they can easily switch at times when it is necessary, they know what they have to do to win the match. So yes, these are going to be really difficult matches.”
CHALLENGE: Jurgen Klopp. Picture: AP
Despite being defending champions and currently unbeaten in the Premier League, the 29-year-old Dutch international doesn’t believe there is added pressure on them.
He explains: “No, not really, because we are doing pretty much the same thing we were doing last season.
“We are mostly working on improving the team and becoming a team that is really difficult to beat...
MAY MISS GAME: Diego Costa. Picture: EPA
“What we are trying to do is give everything we’ve got and we’ll see what happens at the end of the season.”
Atletico, meanwhile, are sweating on the fitness of former Chelsea striker Diego Costa, while fellow attacker Joao Felix has already been ruled out because of injury.