Simeone points to Atlético style against Zenit

Club Atlético de Madrid coach Diego Simeone hopes his team's "Italian" style will give FC Zenit problems when they open UEFA Champions League Group G on Wednesday despite Diego Costa's absence through suspension. Zenit's own Italian coach Luciano Spalletti certainly sees Simeone's stamp on the home side.

Atlético
Diego Simeone, coach
Zenit are a big club with financial power and a side ready to be a great team in Europe. They have a lot of experience in this competition. If you don't focus out on the pitch they will create problems. Zenit and Porto are favourites in the group because of the experience they have at this level. We are still growing. If we play with humility and as a team we have a chance.

Day by day we are getting better offensively. We play a little differently to how they normally play in Spain, and by that I mean we play in a way that could be closer to Italian football. We are improving in the transition from defence to attack.

Adrián López is training well. He had a great pre-season. He hasn't played many minutes in the opening games, but he is a player who can make the necessary jump in quality for a match like this. He is good at combination play and has all the characteristics to play this type of game. If Adrián comes in for Diego Costa, that doesn’t mean we are going to play a 4-4-2.

Any errors committed tomorrow will be punished. I'm not nervous. We need to adapt to new situations and we know that a UEFA Champions League game is unique.

Weekend result
Saturday: Atlético 4-2 UD Almería (Villa 15, Diego Costa 37pen, Tiago 64, Koke 87; Rodri 40, Vidal 90)
Courtois; Juanfran, Giménez, Godín, Filipe Luis; Koke (Óliver Torres 70), Tiago, Gabi, Raúl García (Adrián 72); Diego Costa, Villa (Arda Turan 67).

• Atlético maintained their perfect start to the Liga season and took their goals tally to 14 from four games; this is their best opening to a Spanish top-flight campaign since 1955/56. Miranda's absence at centre-back allowed 18-year-old José María Giménez to make his second debut in a week, the teenager having taken his international bow with Uruguay four days earlier.

Team news
Miranda is available after missing the weekend action with a fever, but forward Diego Costa – who has four goals from as many Liga appearances this term – is suspended, hence Adrián's possible start.

Zenit
Luciano Spalletti, coach
Atlético are a very Spanish team in that they control the ball and use quick passes. They are a very strong side who represent Spanish football well. It's true that in many parts of Europe there is still a lack of knowledge about Russian teams and that's because of the general ignorance about the potential within the Russian game.

I try to teach the players an attacking style of play. It doesn't always work out but many things have got through, as you can see on the pitch. I don't want to say that we should play far up the pitch while leaving open spaces behind us. A modern side needs to play very well as much in attack as in defence.

In Atlético, you can really see the character and style of their coach in the team – that winning spirit. They are characterised by their good control of the ball and the tempo at which they play, which is superior to that of the Russian league. They are also characterised by great changes from attack to defence as you saw in the [UEFA] Super Cup against Barcelona.

Weekend result
Saturday: Zenit 2-0 FC Terek Grozny (Kerzhakov 21, Danny 42)
Lodygin; Anyukov, Hubočan, Neto, Smolnikov; Witsel, Shirokov (Shatov 46), Fayzulin (Tymoshchuk 85), Danny (Bystrov 75); Arshavin, Kerzhakov.

• Danny's sixth league strike this term helped Zenit to a second successive Premier-Liga win. The Portugal forward is just one goal shy of the Russian top flight's leading scorer Artem Dzyuba.

Team news
Fit-again Hulk trained with the Zenit team on Tuesday. Aleksandr Anyukov did not travel to Spain because of injury,

Match fact
• Atlético have a formidable recent home record in Europe. They have won 12 of their last 13 fixtures at the Vicente Calderón in UEFA competition, the exception being a 2-0 reverse against FC Rubin Kazan in February. Zenit's five trips to Spain have all ended in defeat, starting with a 2-1 loss at RC Celta de Vigo in the 2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup.