Diego Simeone has said Atletico Madrid are ready to win the UEFA Champions League title after knocking out Barcelona on Tuesday to reach the semi-finals.

 

 

 

The Rojiblancos fell to a 2-1 quarter-final second leg defeat at home but that was enough to progress 3-2 on aggregate after their 2-0 win at Camp Nou last week.

 

 

Atletico, who have never won the competition, will face Arsenal or Sporting Lisbon in the semi-finals.

 

 

“We’ll go into it with all our hope, with total belief. We know the strengths we have and our flaws,” Simeone was quoted on sports.ndtv.com.

 

 

“We’re ready. We’re going to go after what we’ve been chasing for many years.”

 

 

Simeone led Atletico to the Champions League final in 2014 and 2016, with both ending in painful defeats by cross-town rivals Real Madrid. The last time the Rojiblancos made the semi-finals was 2017.

 

 

“It’s been fourteen years now (at the helm), it still excites me to see that the team keeps competing,” said the Argentine coach.

 

 

“The players have changed, we’ve had to start over a bunch of times, and here we are again among the four best

teams in Europe.”