Simeone wary of Dortmund’s home strength ahead of Champions League return

MADRID: Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone is wary of Borussia Dortmund’s strength at home as his side prepare for the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday having taken a 2-1 lead from last week’s first game.

Atletico, looking for their first Champions League semi-final place in seven years, beat Dortmund at the Metropolitano stadium on Wednesday but Simeone acknowledged the German side’s power at home, which could cause an upset in the return leg. “They are a very strong team at home, they will surely start with a high tempo and we have to keep up the level we’ve been playing at in our last few games,” Simeone told reporters on Monday ahead of the game at Signal Iduna Park.

“I’m sure they will come out strong, they have a lot of skilful people on the wings, people in the middle who come in very well from the second line too. They work very well on set pieces and we will look to take the game where we think we can hurt them.”

Atletico had to withstand intense pressure from Dortmund after going 2-0 up through Rodrigo De Paul and Samuel Lino before Sebastien Haller pulled one back and then twice hit the woodwork.