ATLETICO MADRIDS PLANS AHEAD OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AGAINST PSV Eindhoven

Atletico Madrid plan Champions League 'night for giants' as the Vicente Calderon welcomes PSV Eindhoven

• First leg of the Champions League last 16 tie ended in 0-0 in Eindhoven
• The Madrid press are ramping up the home crowd to intimidate the visitors
• Aletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone calls on their fans to carry his side
• Champions League 2015-16: Latest news, scores, fixtures and highlights

The headline in Diario AS summed it all up very nicely on Tuesday morning in Madrid – 51,800 v 11. 

Atletico Madrid’s creaky old stadium – not long for this world because of plans to move to a new ground outside of the city in 2017 – will be full and rocking tonight.

It is not the biggest in Spain but it is the loudest and according to Diego Simeone the team needs those supporters to push them over the line against PSV Eindhoven after the two sides drew 0-0 two weeks ago.

‘The stadium always responds on these big nights,’ he said. ‘We hope they will respond and back us again tonight.

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With just under 3,000 Dutch supporters in Madrid, PSV will have sizeable backing but they will do well to make themselves heard above the Atletico din. 

The problem for the Dutch side is that, atmosphere apart, the Calderon is a horrible place to visit - the home team's defence make sure of that. They have kept clean sheets in 11 of their 13 games in the competition. With Jan Oblak Spain’s most difficult to beat keeper and Juanfran, Diego Godin, Jose Gimenez and Felipe Luis La Liga’s strongest defence there is an understanding between the back-five that makes it greater than the sum of its parts

In front of them Simeone invariable parks two holding midfielders and with the wall of noise behind the defensive wall it has become one of the toughest fixtures in football.

The struggled to score earlier in the season but finally they have added goals with Koke, Saul Ñiguez and Yannick Carrasco supporting Antoine Griezmann from midfield and Luciano Vietto and Fernando Torres vying for a place next to the Frenchman, who has four goals in his last four games, in attack.

The problem for Atletico is that 0-0 has long ceased to be a good first-leg away result and PSV come knowing that if they score then Atletico will need two goals to beat them. They are also boosted by the return of Luuk De Jong who missed the first leg through suspension. He will be trying to do what rivals have only managed three times so far this season in the Champions League – score past Oblak.

Simeone played his usual flat-bat in Monday’s pre-match media duties. Asked if it would be important to keep a clean sheet he said: ‘The important thing is that we score one more goal than they do.’

He is up against a former international foe. PSV coach Phillip Cocu faced Simeone in the 1998 World Cup quarter-finals and it ended badly for the Argentine with the Dutch knocking them out 2-1 courtesy of a Denis Bergkamp wonder goal.

They have both impressed as coaches. Simeone, transforming the fortunes of Atletico, and Cocu leading PSV to the top of the Eredivisie.

The expectations are all with the Spanish side however. They came so close to winning this tournament two years ago and Simeone still has nightmares about that late late Sergio Ramos header that took the Madrid derby final in Lisbon into extra-time in 2014

It was Atletico’s second final and the second time they had thrown away victory at the gates of glory. In 1974 they were a heartbeat from beating Bayern Munich but conceded late and were beaten two days later 4-0 in the replay. They are desperate for the chance to lift the Cup for the third time of asking.

They are not favourites but they are the team that nobody will want to face in Friday’s draw if they are there. Real Madrid defender Alvaro Arbeloa has already said he hopes they are knocked out tonight so that his team does not have to face them.

Cocu had no problem in labeling Atletico the favourites in the build-up to the game. ‘They have a great team and they are at home which is a big advantage for them. We need a score draw to go through though. It will not be easy but it is not impossible.’