Atletico Madrid star Koke has admitted that facing English teams in the Champions League has 'not been bad' for Diego Simeone's side despite Chelsea defeating them last season.
The 30-year-old central midfielder and his teammates battled hard to claim a 2-1 aggregate win over Ralf Rangnick's Manchester United in the previous round of this season's competition, with Renan Lodi's goal being enough to edge the Old Trafford tie. Their reward for the next round is facing Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side who are looking to right the wrongs of what happened in last season's final against Chelsea.
They will be largely confident on the whole that they can do a job on a faltering Atleti side that have not hit the heights of previous seasons under their Argentinean head coach. Win this tie against the Spanish side and the rewards for Guardiola and co could be Atleti's city neighbours Real Madrid.
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"Tough one. The challenge can not be much higher than playing the second leg in the Bernabeu with spectators. It's a big challenge but there is bit excitement around this match and fixture. We know what's coming. It will be an exciting match and a tough challenge," Blues boss Thomas Tuchel said in his pre-match Middlesbrough press conference on Friday morning.
"It's nice to play a European team and maybe not at this kind of stage a team you've played so many times in domestic competitions."
He the went on to add on the prospect of no fans: "It would be a disadvantage, but this game is for spectators and the game changes with spectators. I'm sure everyone will fight for the chance. These games, any game, is for the spectators and the game is different if supporters are in the ground.
"I have trust in the board who are in dialogue with UEFA and the government here to maybe find out an exception or a logical exemption to find a solution to have fans in the stadium."
Whilst we wait to find out Pep Guardiola's thoughts on the quarter-final tie, his fellow countrymen Koke has already broken his silence on the draw.
Despite their comprehensive losses against the current European and World Champions last season, the midfielder reckons his teams good history in England on the whole can set them up well going into the semi-finals stage. "The English have not been bad for us, except for Chelsea last season," Koke told Spanish source La Colchoneria.
