Bayer Leverkusen CEO Michael Schade believes Atletico Madrid will do anything in order to advance to the Champions League quarter-final. The general manager said he expects the reigning champions of Spain to “scratch, bite, kick and provoke” during Tuesday’s return leg at the Vicente Calderon.
Bayer 04 hold a narrow 1-0 advantage from the first leg in Germany, and are hoping to be secure a positive result in one of Europe’s most intimidating venues.
Atletico Madrid has won 20 of their last 22 European matches at the Calderon. Their only defeat came against FC Rubin Kazan in the Europa League round of 32 in February 2013.
Bayer Leverkusen’s CEO believes Atletico will do anything it takes in order to progress to the next phase of the Champions League on Tuesday night.
“They’ll scratch, bite, kick and provoke…everything we’ve seen before,” Schade said. “And we know they know how to play football too. They wouldn’t be the Spanish champions and Champions League finalists otherwise.”
“It’s going to be incredibly difficult for us. We were clear underdogs before and we’re still the underdogs now. But we’ll have a chance if we can perform the way we did two weeks ago.
“Our team will do their best to play a great game and achieve the dream of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since 2002.
“I’m sure that Atletico will do everything possible to turn the result around, aided by their tremendous strength at home, their well-known fighting spirit and the fanatical supporters in their own stadium.”
Programming note: Atletico Madrid vs. Bayer Leverkusen will be shown LIVE on Tuesday at 3:45pm EST on FOX Sports 2 and FoxSoccer2Go.
