Koke: Juve not about revenge

By Football Italia staff

Koke insists revenge will not be on Atletico Madrid’s minds against Juventus, even if “we can only hope Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t have his best game.”

Ronaldo scored a hat-trick to not only beat Atleti 3-0 in the Champions League Round of 16 last season but also swing the tie in Juve’s favour after they lost the first leg 2-0.

The two sides face off again in the 2019-20 group stage, with Koke’s team playing host to the Bianconeri tomorrow night.

“It’s not about revenge,” the midfielder told Marca.

“Every year is different, we know we’re going to play against one of the best teams in the world with great players, and it’ll be a good match.

“However, what matters is getting out of the group. That’s our objective, as well as winning in general, against Juventus and anyone else.

“Juventus aren’t just Cristiano Ronaldo. We respect all their players. We can only hope he doesn’t have his best game and we’ll try to mark him in the best way so that he doesn’t do what he did last time.

“The team did everything to go through last season, in Turin and at Wanda [Metropolitano]. We played the same way.

“We had a great game at Wanda, but things didn’t go as we would’ve liked in Turin and, in any case, we were facing a team like Juventus with great players who can win a game at any moment, like it happened with Cristiano.

“To be honest with you, it was an inexplicable defeat. Things simply didn’t work out, but like in any other line of work, no day is the same.

“We faced them on the wrong day, while for them it was the right one. Their goals came at the right moments: midway through the first half, at the start of the second half and at the end.”

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