Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone says that what his team is doing - they are in the Champions League final against Real Madrid and level on points with Barcelona in La Liga - will go down in history.

EFE

“What we are are doing will go down in history because we are showing a lot of people in the world that they can [achieve success]. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are the best, but be careful, because we are there,” he said in an interview with Radio Le Red.

On the Champions League final he said: “The objective isn’t to reach the final, but to win it. And to reach that moment in good form, you have to continue working hard day-to-day. If you only focus on the 28th (of May), you won’t arrive in a good way.”

Simeone maintains that his side and Real Madrid will have “equal conditions” because they “know each other well.”

As for the La Liga title race, he added: “We have to do our own job. The clear possibility that we have are the two games that remain, that we have to win, and that is what we are going to prepare for.

"It’s not easy. This year we are battling with Barcelona and Real Madrid in the league and we are also in the Champions League final against Madrid. It’s as if we were playing two Champions Leagues."

Simeone insisted that he is “happy and settled at Atletico” but admitted that he has the objective to one day manage the Argentine national team, as well as Inter and Lazio in Italy.

Asked about his relationship with Lionel Messi he said that he feels “an enormous admiration” for the Barcelona forward. “He is the best in the world. We always talk and say hello. We have a normal relationship, just like I do with [Javier] Mascherano.”