Diego Simeone has urged Atletico Madrid to focus on one game at a time as they face Barcelona and Real Madrid multiple times in the next six weeks.
Atletico face Barca in the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg on Tuesday, but also face them in LaLiga before the return fixture on April 2, with a two-legged Champions League last 16 tie against Real Madrid during that period as well.
The three clubs are currently locked in a heated LaLiga title race, with Barcelona and Real Madrid level on 54 points – the former sitting top due to their head-to-head record, and Atletico one point behind in third.
The first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final will take place at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, with Atletico at home for the second leg.
“The key, the only way, is to look at each day match-by-match,” Simeone told a press conference on Monday.
“We are excited, we want to compete, looking forward to facing each game in the best way possible and to achieve that we are focused solely on [Tuesday’s] game.
“It’s a very important match, but it doesn’t end [after the first leg]; it’s divided into two stages, one on their home court and one on ours. And we’ll take the game where we think we can hurt them.”
Atletico will tackle Barca on Tuesday, two months after their last visit in late December saw them fight back to beat Hansi Flick’s side 2-1 in a thrilling LaLiga encounter.
Barcelona had 19 shots and accumulated 2.72 expected goals (xG) in that loss, with Atletico scoring twice from 0.63 xG and just five attempts.
Simeone’s side are the underdogs heading into this tie though, with the Opta supercomputer giving them only a 22.5% chance of winning the first leg compared to Barcelona’s 53.8% win probability.
Simeone said his side are ready to suffer in what he expects will be a battle against LaLiga’s leaders.
“When you face big teams you know you have to be prepared to resist, to endure suffering,” Simeone said.
“There will be good moments for each side, and you need to take advantage of those. It happened in the 1-1 draw against Real Madrid, where there were moments when they were better than us and the other way around.
“We have a concrete idea, and we’ll work on it with the boys beforehand. We’re up against an opponent that I really like the way they play. They have great attacking strength, and we’ll be looking to hurt them where we think we can.”
