Atletico de Madrid vs Bayern Munich - Alonso not eyeing revenge against Atletico Madrid

Posted Tuesday, September 27, 2016 by PA

Bayern Munich midfielder Xabi Alonso insists his side will not be motivated by revenge when they face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League for the second time in five months on Wednesday.

Bayern's dreams of a sixth European Cup title were brought to an end by Atletico at the semi-final stage last season, the German heavyweights tumbling out on away goals despite winning the second leg 2-1 at home.

The two sides have since been paired together in the group stages of this season's competition, but Alonso says Bayern will be looking forward rather than back to what happened in April.

Asked if there was a desire for revenge, Alonso told Marca: "No, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. That's football. We couldn't do it last year. They got to the final and we had to settle for watching it on television."

Since being knocked out of Europe by Atletico, Bayern have reeled off 11 successive wins in all competitions, with new coach Carlo Ancelotti picking up where predecessor Pep Guardiola left off.

One of those victories was a 5-0 mauling of Rostov in their opening Group D match, but Bayern will know a trip to the Vicente Calderon is likely to be much tougher.

Former Real Madrid midfielder Alonso said: "It will be a very difficult game, as always. We know them very well, they haven't changed too much with respect to last year.

"I watched their game at Barcelona (1-1 draw) and saw the same Atletico as recent years. Competitive, united, always well organised and with this positive aggression, in the sense that they compete at the maximum.

"We want to control the game, but we need to be intelligent and be aware of our rivals' qualities."

Atletico were unable to follow up their win over Bayern with victory over Real Madrid in the 2016 final, going down to their arch rivals in the title-decider for the second time in three years.

Diego Simeone's men will be determined to go all the way this time, and got their campaign off to a good start with a hard-fought 1-0 win over PSV Eindhoven in Holland.

They also have a formidable home record to fall back on, winning 25 of their last 30 European matches in front of their own fans, losing only twice.

However, the visit of Bundesliga champions Bayern promises to test all that, with Atletico's summer signing Kevin Gameiro telling radio station COPE: "Bayern are a very good team. They have very good players and play football very well.

"We're a counter-attacking team and I know the philosophy of Ancelotti, he always wants the ball. It will be a difficult game, but we will fight for the entire 90 minutes."

Bayern have taken a 21-man squad to Madrid for the match, with only long-term absentees Holger Badstuber and Douglas Costa absent.

Atletico, meanwhile, have lost midfielder Augusto Fernandez to a serious knee injury.