PSV vs Atletico Madrid

“We will use Monday and Tuesday to check how they come through training but a player who is 90 percent fit is of no use for a big match like that against Atletico”, Cocu added.

“That’s the strength we have which gives us positive results and means we play and do better”.

Though PSV Eindhoven have home advantage, captain and top goalscorer Luuk de Jong is serving a suspension and his reliability up-front will hamper their chances to break through a resilient Atletico team, despite the Spaniards being on the road. They don’t concede a lot of goals and that’s one of their main qualities.

Dutch legend Johan Cruyff has suggested that the Eredivisie team will find it hard to match Atletico physically, per FourFourTwo, with Simeone’s team sure to defend with great resilience, press hard and counter-attack fast when they have the chance.

“It’s a time of complicated matches, especially because of the different teams we’re playing against”.

PSV finished second in Group B with 10 points having won 3 games, drawn 1 and lost 2. Also, Vitesse drew 2-2 at De Graafschap and FC Utrecht beat Willem II 2-1. Their biggest strength has been their rock solid defence, as shown in their 0-0 draw with Villarreal on Sunday. That aside, it has been a reasonably settled XI for PSV, with just the odd change for rotation and rest purposes, with a handful such as Adam Maher unable to get involved in the team at all in the past few weeks.

With Pellegrini leaving at the end of the season to be replaced by Pep Guardiola, a strong Champions League run would be a way for the Chilean to sign off in style.

Simeone is without long-term injury concern Tiago (leg), while Yannick Ferreira Carrasco (ankle) and Thomas Partey (hamstring) are also unavailable.

Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar and Co are just one game away from equalling the record held by rivals Real Madrid who avoided defeat for 34 consecutive matches during the 1987/88 season.

Cocu has been focusing more on penalty practice in training in an attempt to cure the problem – De Jong, Juergen Locadia and Guardado have all missed this season.

While Godin and Gimenez ahead of him will be near-impenetrable if close to their best form, goalkeeper Jan Oblak is an absolute study of concentration in games whether called into action or not.