Liverpool are difficult, but still far from being Atletico Madrid’s toughest opponents
Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez admits that dealing with Liverpool is a difficult matter. However, the Premier League representative is not the toughest opponent ever faced by Los Rojiblancos.
Diego Simeone’s men were drawn against Liverpool in the last 16 of the Champions League round of 2019/20. If you talk on paper, Jurgen Klopp’s troops indeed seem more favored, especially they are the defending champions of the competition.
But in reality, at the first leg meeting at Atletico headquarters, Liverpool were defeated 0-1 from the host. Whereas in the second leg at Anfield, the Reds were defeated by a score of 2-3 by Diego Simeone’s troops on penalties.
But Atletico Madrid’s victory in the match was considered not memorable, where they appear to survive for most of the second leg match. In contrast, Liverpool always dominate, and they only missed goals because of a quick counterattack.
Saul Niguez admitted that the two matches were difficult, but from the start Atletico Madrid had predicted it.
“It was a very difficult match. But we already know that, “Saul told Atletico’s official website.
Only, Saul did not consider his team suffered in both matches against Liverpool. In addition, they also performed quite well.
“To be honest, that wasn’t the game that made me suffer the most. I don’t feel we are playing well,” he said.
The Spanish National Team midfielder considers the toughest match he has ever played with Atletico Madrid is when dealing with Bayern Munich. Precisely at the same event in the 2016 edition last.
“For example, I remember when we faced Bayern Munich in Germany. I really suffered in that, I thought that we would not come out alive! Whereas at Anfield, I have a lot of confidence in the team.”
“I think we did a lot of things well there (Anfield),” Saul claimed.
After their success in securing tickets to the quarter-finals, Atletico Madrid received criticism from Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp. According to him, the La Liga representative’s play style really doesn’t make sense.