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Football London
Football London
Sport
Jamie Kemble

Liverpool have already given Chelsea the warning they need ahead of Atletico Madrid second leg

Chelsea should not count their chickens just yet following their Champions League win over Atletico Madrid.

Thomas Tuchel's men claimed a 1-0 win over Atleti thanks to Olivier Giroud's eye-catching overhead kick goal in the 68th minute, taking an away goal into the second leg on March 17.

Chelsea dominated the game but found it hard to penetrate Atleti's organised structure, one the footballing world has come to know well since Diego Simeone took over in 2011.

And the easy assumption to make is that the Blues now have their Spanish counterparts exactly where they want them ahead of the home leg next month, but that is not necessarily the case.

Thomas Tuchel 'super happy' with Chelsea win over Atletico Madrid

The assumption would be that Atletico will now be forced to play more expansive football, coming away from the style they know best and giving Chelsea ample opportunity to kill them off in the second leg.

But Tuchel and Chelsea should not make the mistake of thinking Atleti are not capable of coming out and scoring goals in the second leg.

Last season, Simeone's men took a one-goal lead away to Anfield in a Round of 16 clash with Liverpool but they conceded once in normal time and again in extra time to go a goal behind on aggregate.

Atleti then showed their attacking capabilities by scoring three goals in extra-time at Anfield to progress to the quarter-final, when they were eventually eliminated by Leipzig.

Clearly, Simeone's men know how to respond to a Champions League deficit and they now have the added benefit of seasoned marksman Luis Suarez, who wasn't at the club during that Liverpool comeback.

Atletico are also only one goal short of averaging two goals per game in La Liga this season, losing only once away from home in 11 league outings so far.

Not that Chelsea are not in a commanding position, that away goal clearly an important one with Atleti a little out of sorts despite their dominance in La Liga.

Simeone's men have now conceded in their last eight games across all competitions and that will also give Chelsea hope of asserting their dominance in the second leg.

But this tie is far from over and there are lessons to be learned from Atletico's Anfield comeback.

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