Conte: Atletico Madrid 'in a good moment of form, but it's the same for us'

Antonio Conte is keen to remind Atletico Madrid of Chelsea’s form.

On Monday, the day before welcoming Atleti to Stamford Bridge on the final matchday of the Champions League’s group stage, Conte pointed out the Blues are also entering the game on a high.

While Chelsea has already advanced to the Champions League’s knockout phase, Atleti needs a victory to have any chance of progressing from the group stage, and a win won’t be enough if AS Roma beats Qarabag FK in the other Group C game.

“Atletico are always a strong team, before and now,” Conte said. “They are in a good moment of form, but it’s the same for us. Tomorrow, the game will be open because Atletico Madrid will try to win the game, and it’ll be the same for us. The only difference is that the final result for them is very important, and for us we have already qualified, but at the same time a great team has to play every game to try to win.

“The most important thing was to qualify for the next round, because one of Atletico or Roma will go out of this tournament. We must be pleased with our path in this tournament, even if I maybe regret one game against Roma away. We want to play a big game and try to win, that’s normal. If you see the other groups, you have the same risk if you arrive first or second. If you arrive first you can draw Real Madrid or Bayern Munich or Juventus.

“We have to try to do our best tomorrow, and then we will see what happens in the draw.”

Chelsea is unbeaten in six games in all competitions, while Atleti’s only defeat of the season came against Tuesday’s opponents when the Blues exited the Wanda Metropolitano with a last-gasp 2-1 victory on the group stage’s second matchday.