Atletico Madrid face Manchester City this week.
Los Rojiblancos travel to England to lock horns with the Premier League champions today ahead of tomorrow night’s game.
And it’s a big one; the quarter-final of the Champions League. Atletico will be keen to put in a strong performance at the Etihad Stadium and earn a good result before the second leg.
And they’re in good form.
After a poor start to the season Diego Simeone’s men have surged to third in La Liga, overtaking Sevilla this weekend. They’re now level on points with Barcelona as well as Sevilla. League leaders Real Madrid are 12 points clear.
City are top of the Premier League, doing a much better job of defending their title than Atletico are. But they’re far from running away with the league; Liverpool are just a point behind.
Atletico knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League in the last 16 while City made light work of Sporting Lisbon.
Aymeric Laporte is someone who’ll know Atletico well given his history with Athletic Club as well as his present with La Roja; many of his international teammates play for Los Rojiblancos. While he’s respectful of them, however, he doesn’t fear them.
He’s confident in the ability of his team to get the job done.
“The football we play, no one else plays in the world,” Laporte told Sid Lowe of The Guardian when asked to compare City to their rivals for the Premier League title, Liverpool. “We’re an example of how to play nice football, to be superior in all areas.
“I think they’d like even part of our game. As for us having something of them: taking chances and benefiting from opponents’ errors a little more, because often we have the opportunity and don’t take it. We let the other team off. But there’s nothing to be envious about.”
