Diego Simeone has claimed that ‘Barcelona are more dangerous than before’ as his Atletico Madrid side prepare to face the Catalans.
The capital club host the Blaugrana at Vicente Calderon this evening in a top of the table clash.
But the Argentine tactician has claimed that Tata Martino’s men have the quality to punish his boys.
“When you change Coach, the team’s identity usually changes too,” Simeone told reporters.
“Barça have marked an era in the game with a very defined style of play. Now, their game is much faster, more direct and they can switch play from one side of the pitch to other with more ease.
“They are creating more one-on-one chances and that makes them more dangerous than before. They have always had a number of variants to their game and now, they have even more.
“That’s mainly due to Martino and also the players as they have wanted to improve and develop.
“Over the course of the season, you have to play matches which are tougher than others. The merit is down to our opponents, they’re the ones who have known how to adapt and change their style of play against us. Málaga, Valencia and Levante are good examples of that.
“That we were able to take something from those games means that we have an extra set of provisions for similar games in the future. We have taken points from some very important games and tomorrow’s is a massive game – one which for us, will be fantastic to play with all of the expectations both we and Barça have going into it.
“It’s not a final. It’s only a League game. Now it’s our turn to face them. It’s a very, very important game but still just a League game like any other. We will be attempting to play our own game and utilise our weapons.
“We want to put in a similar performance to the one we put in against them in the Super Cup.”
The Coach then commented on whether he thinks Lionel Messi will start the match.
“As a fellow Argentinean, I am extremely happy that Messi is back at his best. We need to win the World Cup and he is a decisive player who can help us to do it.
“I really hope that he can play his best football during these next few months. As for your question, will we see a Barça without Messi tomorrow? I don’t think so. They have a lot of variations to their game but I can’t see him not taking part in tomorrow’s match.”
