Diego Simeone says he is expecting to face a Malmo team who are as ‘competitive as ourselves’ on Wednesday.
At the same time, the Argentine denied his players were expecting an easy time in their Champions League group game against the Swedish outfit.
“I certainly don’t think any of our squad expects it to be easy. It’s normal that those people who see little football and have seen little of Malmo may think it will be comfortable, but we’ve watched them and we will give them a lot of respect.
“We believe they will not be much different from Olympiacos in terms of competitiveness, much like ourselves,” Simeone told a Press conference.
“In addition, they have many young players and this is possibly why they are set up like they are, doing what the Coach asks of them. We will be facing a dangerous team.
“I said when we were in Greece [for the opening group game against Olympiacos] that Malmo would surely be fighting until the end to qualify.”
Simeone is adamant he is not thinking beyond Wednesday’s fixture.
“I’m only concerned with the present and that’s the Malmo game, which we mustn’t take our eyes off, and the only thing I’m thinking about is winning that.
“We know we’ll have to play intelligently and be extremely careful when we are attacking.
“Malmo are opponents with good speed in the top half of the pitch, with good individuals, and we’ll have to be careful,” he cautioned.
