Simeone plays down Europa chances

Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone has played down his team’s chances of winning the Europa League ahead of their clash with Besiktas.

The La Liga side and 2009/2010 Europa League champions have been in strong form since the Argentine took over in December last year.

But Simeone refused to be drawn into suggestions his side were capable of winning the Europa League ahead of their round-of-16 first leg against Turkish outfit Besiktas on Thursday.

“I not paying much attention to what people are talking about at the moment because, while they are saying these things, we haven’t won in five matches in La Liga,” Simeone said on Wednesday.

“It’s a little complicated to think of ourselves as strong candidates in the Europa League.”

“We are taking it a match at a time and we know that the next match against Besiktas will be a tough one because they have important players and we know that we’ll have to put in a big effort to beat them.”

Colombian striker Radamel Falcao, who missed Atletico’s 1-1 draw at Sevilla on Saturday after returning from international duty, is expected to play.

Simeone said he expected Besiktas to play at a fast pace, and warned his team to be alert at set-pieces.

“I expect a fast team. We’ll see if (Hugo) Almeida’s replacement will be a centre forward or a faster more mobile forward like (Ricardo) Quaresma,” he said.

“They can come out with more creative midfielders or with wingers to get past our defence. This is the match I’m expecting.”

“They are a team that has a fast counter attack and we’ll have to be careful at set pieces because they can take advantage of opportunities if we don’t make the most of our chances.”

Atletico midfielder Gabriel Fernandez Arenas said his team had a lot of respect for Besiktas.

“I don’t know how the best sides see us. What I do know is that we are a great club. We know what we want and we will fight to win everything,” Arenas said.

“We respect Besiktas a lot because it’s also a great team with very good players, but we are Atletico Madrid.”