Atletico Madrid cntre back Joao Miranda has called on his teammates to have no fear when they face Chelsea in the Champions league semi finals, after they knocked out Barcelona in the previous round; the first leg of the penultimate round gets underway this evening at the Vicente Calderon stadium.
Atletico, who are chasing an historic league and cup double, have on paper perhaps the easiest opponents possible after Real Madrid and Bayern Munich were drawn together in the other semi.
Miranda told the Guardian: “Some people were very surprised when we defeated Barcelona as Atletico had come out of nowhere this season.”
“It’s a great team (Chelsea) but Barcelona was also and we beat them. They will have to want it more than we do.”
“I do not know why we should be afraid of Chelsea.”
Tonight’s match kicks off at 1945 GMT, with the return leg coming next week before a final at Benfica’s Estadio da Luz next month.