Marcos Llorente has warned his Atletico Madrid teammates not to focus too much of their energy on stopping Cristiano Ronaldo during Tuesday's Champions League last-16 second leg.
Ronaldo returned to form for Manchester United at the weekend, ending a run of one goal in 10 games by scoring a stunning hat-trick in a 3-2 win against Tottenham. The 37-year-old has a rich history against Atletico as well, scoring 25 goals against them for city rivals Real Madrid and during his three-year spell at Juventus.
After a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Madrid three weeks ago United will hope Ronaldo can be decisive back at Old Trafford. However, Llorente, who was Atletico's hero when they knocked Liverpool out by winning at Anfield at this stage two years ago, knows it is dangerous to become too focused on stopping one player.
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“When you have players like that you always need to be on your guard, they have some other great players that play at a really high level and we have to be aware of all of them," he said.
Llorente scored twice in that win at Anfield and subsequently named his dog after the stadium. He has been repurposed as a right-back for much of this season and Atletico's title defence in Spain has faltered badly.
But Diego Simeone's side have made a habit of turning up for the big occasion and Llorente is expecting a similar performance at Old Trafford on Tuesday. He told reporters: “It’s impossible not to be motivated for games like this, it’s a really important game for us.
"We’re in a good space playing well, getting good results, achieving good objectives, the team is looking forward to the game. I think it’s completely open, even more so with the result that we got in the first leg.
"It’s going to be a really tough game, the team will have to have a good attitude and resilience to come away with the result and get through to the last eight. They’re playing at home, we know the advantages they have, what we’ve worked on, what we did well, we’re more than prepared to do the things that the coaching staff requires from us, we’re willing the match to be here."
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