Diego Simeone has insisted Atletico Madrid are ready to fight for the UEFA Champions League title after eliminating Barcelona on Tuesday to book their place in the semi-finals.
The Rojiblancos suffered a 2-1 defeat in the second leg at home, but still advanced 3-2 on aggregate thanks to their 2-0 first-leg victory at Camp Nou last week.
Atletico, who are yet to win the competition, will now face either Arsenal or Sporting Lisbon in the last four.
“We’ll go into it with all our hope, with total belief. We know the strengths we have and our flaws,” Simeone was quoted on sports.ndtv.com.
“We’re ready. We’re going to go after what we’ve been chasing for many years.”
Simeone previously guided Atletico to the Champions League final in 2014 and 2016, both times suffering defeat to city rivals Real Madrid.
The club’s last semi-final appearance came in 2017.
“It’s been fourteen years now (at the helm), it still excites me to see that the team keeps competing,” said the Argentine coach.
“The players have changed, we’ve had to start over a bunch of times, and here we are again among the four best teams in Europe.”
