Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola has talked up the quality of Atletico Madrid ahead of the Champions League semi-final between the two sides.
Bayern will travel to the Vicente Calderon for the first leg of their last-four clash on Wednesday night looking to avoid a third consecutive semi-final exit at the hands of Spanish opposition.
Guardiola knows Atletico well from his time in charge of Barcelona, and he is expecting a difficult test against a team that knocked his former club out in the last round.
"We know all the teams are difficult and Atletico are no exception. You can compare them to Barca and Madrid - when they play against the big European clubs, they can confound the favourites," he told reporters.
"It will be a great game, complete and fun at the same time, and we will do all we can to get the final. It has been five years since I was involved against them, but from what I have seen and what people say, they defend well, though that's not all they do.
"They're extremely well organised, they've got a good structure defensively, they close space, they have a great counter-attack. They have been fighting for the league title for the last three or four seasons as well as in Europe, so you have to do almost everything very well against them. But we will have to see what we can do in order to hurt them."
Guardiola also accepted that his time at Bayern will ultimately be judged on whether or not he steers the club to European glory this season.
Barney Corkhill
