How Diego Simeone plans to ‘hurt’ Arsenal in UEFA Champions League semi-finals as Atletico Madrid prepare for ‘absolute force’

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Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone, a big admirer of Mikel Arteta, hopes to "take the match to a place where we can hurt Arsenal" when the two sides clash in Wednesday's UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg.

'Nobody owes us anything' - Simeone looks ahead to Atletico's UCL semi-final against Arsenal

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The Spaniards stunned domestic rivals Barcelona with a 3-2 aggregate victory in the quarter-finals to reach the last four for the first time in nine years.

Simeone led Atleti to two finals, in 2014 and 2016, but they were beaten on both occasions by city rivals Real Madrid, and the club is yet to lift the Champions League trophy.

After overcoming Club Brugge and Tottenham Hotspur, knocking out La Liga leaders Barca to reach the semi-finals led to big celebrations from the Atleti coach – who is now targeting another north London scalp on Wednesday, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

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"[The Champions League means] what it means to any athlete - an enormous competition, at a club where we've never been able to win it yet, where we've reached four semi-finals over these 14 years I've been here," Simeone told TNT Sports.

"You know what it costs, what it takes to stay in a privileged position like this.

"Now it's about protecting that position, giving everything we have, and taking the match to a place where we think we can hurt Arsenal."

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Probed on what that might entail, Simeone kept his cards close to his chest.

"I'll be telling my players that tomorrow, and I hope they'll be able to interpret it in the best possible way," he replied.

In the opposing dugout at the Metropolitano, Arteta will be looking to guide The Gunners to their first Champions League final since 2006 against an opponent his side defeated 4-0 at the Emirates back in October during the League Phase.

The Spaniard also led Arsenal to the last four last season, where they were beaten by eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain.

This time around, they head to Madrid with a Premier League and Champions League double to play for, and Simeone has been impressed with Arteta’s work.

"I had the chance, after the defeat at Arsenal, to have lunch with him," Simeone said.

"Pure admiration - an incredible professional, an extraordinary piece of work. And, as always, in this fight to reach the most important places, I wish them nothing but the best.”

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Arsenal’s success this season has been built on a rock-solid defence and potent set-piece threat, but Simeone would not be drawn on comparisons between the team he took to two finals a decade ago and the current Gunners side – nor would he entertain the idea of branding his current team as attacking or defensive in their approach.

"Arsenal have different players with different characteristics to what we had back then," he said.

"They've been doing an enormous, enormous job. They've been competing at the highest level for years now, and we'll need to bring every ounce of ability and wisdom to play this match."

Simeone went on: "I don't really know what defensive and offensive mean. I think a team tries to be a team, and from there, the one that manages to be more of a team is the one that competes better.

"Because it's clear that to win you need to stop conceding goals, and to win you need to score goals. So the two sides - defensive and offensive - come together, and whoever embodies that best is the one who ends up succeeding."

Koke: Arsenal ‘an absolute force’ in one area

One man who will be as fired up as any to get Atleti into another final is midfielder Koke, who has spent his entire career with the Madrid club - and starred in their previous runs to the final.

The 34-year-old, who has represented the club more than 700 times in all competitions, believes that the experience of a recent – albeit disappointing - meeting with Arsenal will help them in the two-legged tie ahead.

"Of course it does. Obviously, the matches are completely different, but you already know the opponent a little, because they're not going to change things drastically either," Koke explained to TNT Sports.

"They are a fantastic team, and it counts for something - but it's true that a semi-final is completely different from what happened, or what happened to us, in that match."

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One area where Koke believes his side must be particularly attentive is when defending dead-ball situations.

"At set-pieces, I think they're an absolute force," Koke said. "They're scoring a lot of goals from those situations, and we're going to have to be fully switched on, because these matches are decided by small details.

"We need to be very alert to those situations - they're hard to stop, but we have to be ready and deal with them."

How to watch Atletico v Arsenal

Atletico v Arsenal will be live on TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max.

TNT Sports is available across all major TV platforms, offering a line-up of up to four TV channels (TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports 2, TNT Sports 3, TNT Sports 4), and up to six digital or red-button channels (TNT Sports 5 to 10), and TNT Sports Ultimate plus TNT Sports Box Office HD.

You can subscribe to TNT Sports through HBO Max, BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.

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