24 hours before the kick-off of the last-16 round against Leicester City, Fernando Torres has warned about the quality and toughness of the contest versus the Premier League current Champions: “Leicester did not win the Premier League because they were lucky. They are not the last English team left in the competition because they are lucky. Everything they have achieved is because they are a great team who have worked hard, all their success is deserved”.

“Others can use the word favourites but nobody here will be. We don’t consider ourselves favourites. We are looking ahead to two very tough games against the champions of England”, stated the striker.

Atletico were Champions League runners-up last season and also in 2014, Torres added: “What we do have is experience. We are used to playing at this stage of the competition and I hope that we can use that to our advantage. They are not going to be easy games. Hopefully our experience will give us the edge.”

“We all became Leicester fans for what they did last season was amazing. It was one of these cases that everybody thinks they’re not going to be there to the end, they will start losing and big teams they go up. But they did, they showed great character and I think we all from the outside wanted them to win the league because it’s one of these stories that everyone will remember for years and years.”

Torres insists he and his team-mates are taking them very seriously: “Leicester is a team with passion and great players but above everything it is a team. They showed against Sevilla that they could do it.”, Torres told the BBC in an exclusive interview.