MADRID: Atletico Madrid hope their excellent recent form can help them to a top-eight place in the Champions League and an automatic berth in the last 16, but coach Diego Simeone is wary of the challenges ahead.
Atletico won a 10th game in succession as they eased past Slovan Bratislava 3-1 in Madrid on Wednesday, a result that leaves them one point outside of the top eight with a home game against Bayer Leverkusen and an away trip to RB Salzburg to come.
"There are two games left and they are very good teams," Simeone said. "We face Leverkusen, one of the best in the competition, and we will see how far we can go. We will give our maximum and see what the sum of our points brings us."
Goals from Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann (two) eased Atletico to victory against Slovan, though Simeone was left to rue a conceded penalty that briefly sent jitters through his side as the visitors made it 2-1.
"The effort was there," he said of Wednesday's performance. "The first half was controlled, with important chances, and then in the second it was also controlled beyond that penalty. The players managed it well and we won a game in which we cared a lot about the three points."
Atletico have been magnificent on their 10-game winning run and in the last five matches have scored 21 goals. It is a far cry from their sluggish start to the campaign.
"It's football and football turns, changes, with moments of difficulty and others that lead you to be very good. We know what we have (in the team), where we are going, and we always try to improve."
Wednesday's match was notable for the fact that at one stage both coaches had their sons on the pitch. Giuliano Simeone started for Atletico, while Slovan coach Vladimir Weiss brought on his son, also Vladimir, for the final six minutes.
"I think that if the coach (Weiss) has chosen to put the player on, he did not think of putting his son on. Like me, neither of us have looked at them as a son, we look at them as footballers," Simeone said.