Atletico director Clemente Villaverde was asked on beIN Sports whether his team were delighted to have drawn Leicester, seen by most pundits in Spain as the weakest of the eight teams left in the competition.
“I don’t know about that, as in their last tie and in the groups they showed they are a team who must be taken into account,” Villaverde said. “When you are in the quarterfinals, among the best eight teams in Europe, you must respect all opponents.
“Leicester are here on their own merits. They overcome a very important team like Sevilla in the last round. For sure it will be a very difficult tie. This will be really difficult for us. We played them in the UEFA Cup in the 1990s, and we hope to follow the same steps this time.”
Villaverde added that Atletico would not make the same mistakes as Sevilla did in the round of 16 against Leicester, with Diego Simeone’s team having the experience to not let chances slip in such big games.
“Atletico must learn to take their chances when they get them,” he said. “Sevilla had quite bad luck over the two games. They were better over the two games. But football is like that. If you have chances and cannot kill off the game, there is a chance the other team can come back.
“We have shown we can compete in this competition in these last years, and we are confident we can avoid [such] mistakes and ensure our passage.”
Playing the first leg at home was not an issue for Atletico, Villaverde said.
“Usually we are not too worried about the order of the games,” he said. “In ties like this, each game will be totally different. We need to know how to compete in each game, depending on how the game develops. It is not relevant if you play home or away first.”
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