Atletico Madrid midfielder Tiago has warned teammate Thibaut Courtois not to get caught up in any mind games played by Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho ahead of their Champions League clash.
Courtois comes up against his parent club in the semi-finals of the European competition, and the former Chelsea man is fully aware of all the tricks of Mourinho uses to try and get an advantage over his opponents.
Tiago is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail: "We all know Mourinho and we all know that if it is necessary to crank up the pressure before a game in order to win it then he will do that.
"Jose just wants to win, he knows Courtois is very important for us and he wants to weaken us. Any coach would. [But] it would have been very cruel for Courtois not to play this game.
"Football itself doesn't deserve for Courtois to miss out. For the good of football we all like the idea of having [Petr] Cech in one goal and Courtois in the other – two wonderful goalkeepers."
Chelsea take on Atletico at the Estadio Vicente Calderon in the first leg of their matchup on Tuesday.
Simon Sinclair
