Source: Team_Talk
Forlan plays down favourites tag
Diego Forlan refuses to concede that Atletico Madrid's first-leg victory over Liverpool makes them favourites to reach the Europa League final.[LNB] Forlan struck the only goal of Thursday night's semi-final opener at the Estadio Vicente Calderon to put Atletico in the box seat ahead of next week's return leg at Anfield.[LNB]Atletico have been in decent form away from home in the competition so far, beating Turkish giants Galatasaray 2-1 in Istanbul and then holding both Sporting Lisbon and Valencia to 2-2 draws to secure away-goals victories.[LNB]However, Liverpool have bounced back from first-leg deficits in both of their previous rounds against Lille and Benfica and Forlan acknowledges it will not be easy for his side at Anfield.[LNB]The Uruguayan said: "I don't think we are favourites, we did a good job here, we won the game and they didn't score, but they are a strong team with good players and we know it's going to be a difficult game.[LNB]"We've played there before in the Champions League and in a friendly game, so we know how it's going to be. It's going to be a tough game. We know they are very strong there. We will have to play intelligently.[LNB]"But the team is prepared and we have to focus on events on the pitch and not on what's off it."[LNB]Forlan gave Atletico the ideal start when he put the Spanish side ahead after just eight minutes.[LNB]The Rojiblancos were unable to build on that though, despite creating the better of the opportunities in the remainder of the game.[LNB]Forlan missed one of the best openings after being left one on one with Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina, who also did well to deny Simao and Tomas Ujfalusi during the second half.[LNB]"The team played well. We had some chances to score more, but they didn't score against us and that's important at this stage of the competition," Forlan added.[LNB]"There are still 90 very difficult minutes left to get through to the final."[LNB]Atletico winger Jose Antonio Reyes, the former Arsenal player, added: "It's a slight advantage to take into the second leg, but nothing is decided yet.[LNB]"We have to visit a difficult ground, where we need to try and score a goal as soon as possible to make things more comfortable for us in the tie.[LNB]"We are happy with the work we've done and we know that we have to go to Liverpool with this same mentality."
