Former Real Madrid and Liverpool midfielder Steve McManaman believes Chelsea should not be scared of facing former striker Diego Costa or Luis Suarez when they go up against Atletico Madrid.
The Blues and Diego Simeone's La Liga high-flyers were paired together for the Champions League Round of 16 with Chelsea winning their group and Atletico finishing second, behind reigning champions Bayern Munich.
Atletico have been in fine form this season, currently sitting second in La Liga but level on points with leaders Real Sociedad and with two games in-hand.
Meanwhile, Chelsea have endured a wobble of late following a bright start to the campaign, but they should still be confident of beating Simeone's men when the two sides meet across two legs across February and March, according to pundit McManaman, who also thinks frontmen Costa and Suarez are not to be feared.
"When you look through that squad (Atletico’s), yes they’ve signed a couple new players, Joao Felix a year older and more experienced, but what you would see shouldn’t scare Chelsea," he told BT Sport.
"Costa shouldn’t scare Chelsea. He was at his best when he was at Chelsea. He’ll do his best to upset them and cause chaos but as a rampaging centre forward he’s certainly not the player he once was.
"Luis Suarez is into his middle to late 30s, so his best days are behind him. He’s aggressive, he can be dangerous at time but no more dangerous than the Chelsea forwards.
"We want all our teams fit and well for when February comes along to give them the best possible chance of qualifying.
"You never think Atletico Madrid are going to do to Chelsea what Bayern did to them last year – score goals, rampage forward, that’s not going to be happening.
"We know what we get with Atletico Madrid, they’re a very stubborn team, they’re almost a nuisance in the way they play, they’ve signed Luis Suarez to add to that.
"They’re a bit of a pain, of course they are. But the Chelsea squad they have now they’re certainly capable of beating them, but we do know it’s going to be a lot tougher that game over two legs."
