Luis Garcia: "Power and quality" of Liverpool to overcome Atleti
Luis Garcia, formerly of Liverpool and Atletico Madrid, expects the holders to do enough to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals.
Luis Garcia thinks the "power and quality" of Liverpool will be enough to see them overcome Atletico Madrid and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
The holders trail 1-0 from the first leg of the last-16 tie at the Wanda Metropolitano, where they had 73 per cent of the possession but failed to record Luisa shot on target.
Garcia, a Champions League winner with Liverpool in 2005 who also enjoyed two spells with Atletico, says there is a degree of confidence in Madrid that coach Diego Simeone will have the nous to nullify the Reds again.
However, he expects Jurgen Klopp's side to do enough to progress.
"[I think it will be] tough for both sides, to be honest," he told Liverpool's website. Here in Spain and in Madrid the feeling is a little bit the same. They know Anfield is a tough stadium and not many teams get out alive; the crowd always helps the home team. [But] actually, they know [Diego] Simeone knows how to deal with these kinds of situations.
"After what we saw in the Metropolitano, where they were working the way they normally do – defending very well, waiting for the chance and the fast transitions and counter-attacks they do so well – they still think they can make it.
"And then the other way around, knowing Liverpool and after being there many times in many situations where Liverpool needed to score goals and managed it, they know what Anfield can be if they need to score one, two or three goals.
"I'm quite positive, to be honest. I think Liverpool have the power, quality and talent to overcome the situation and go through to the next round."
Much has been made of Liverpool's proclivity for a famous European comeback, most recently in last season's semi-finals, when they recovered from losing the first leg 3-0 in Spain to defeat Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate.
Garcia, though, says previous such results will have little influence if the players are not up for the fight on Wednesday.
"This is more for the people around – journalists and supporters – that they have in their mind: 'We did it against Borussia Dortmund, we did it against Barcelona, we did it even in Istanbul and Olympiacos'," he said.
"There are many times where you can point to these kinds of situations. But when you are on the field, you're not thinking, 'we've done it before so we're going to do it now'. You're more focused on what you have to do and trying to give 110 per cent because 100 per cent is not going to be enough."