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Simão's Atlético taking 'huge steps'


Club Atlético de Madrid are back with a bang in Europe according to midfielder Simão after Los Rojiblancos confirmed their place in the UEFA Champions League first knockout round with a 2-1 win against PSV Eindhoven.
Future ambitions
The Portuguese international opened the scoring after 14 minutes before teeing up Maxi Rodríguez for the second on 28, and although Danny Koevermans reduced the arrears for the visitors shortly after the restart, Atlético held on for maximum points. "The team has arrived at this stage without playing among the top teams in Europe for some time now and tonight we have taken a huge step in showing that we deserve to be here," Simão said. "We're not only happy with having qualified, we want more."
Winning mentality
Despite the empty stadium, Javier Aguirre's side stuck to their task from the off. "We were switched on from the beginning and we got what we wanted," continued the 29-year-old winger. "We always want to win and to be honest we never think in any other way. Before we start thinking about the away game in Marseille we have important games in Liga and in that competition we'd like to be doing just as well as we are in the Champions League."
Top spot sought
Maxi added: "We're very happy. We felt we had to win this match and that's exactly what we did." The Argentinian put in a stellar performance on the right-hand side for the capital club, and later stressed that both he and his team-mates were gunning for a strong finish to the group stage in order to pip Liverpool FC to top spot in the section. "We know we now need to try and win our next match in Marseille as we want to gain first place in the group."