Real Madrid Vs Atletico - Pre-game News, Notes, And Quotes

We're less than 24 hours away. Chances are, those are going to be some long hours for most of you, so here's some reading to tide you over.

Yesterday, we summarized your homework from the past week or so, and today we're going to add more to your reading list before the the biggest match of the season.

• Part 2 of 'Q&A With The Enemy' is now released, but you have to click over to SB Nation's Into The Calderon to read it. This time, the interview was reversed, and I was the one answering questions, so be sure to check it out for a different perspective of the final.
• Gabe and I did one last pre-game podcast which was published this morning. We were joined by Into The Calderon's Jeremy Beren. It was fun.
• Andrejs, our pre-game guru, churned out your preview for tomorrow's clash. Get amped.
• Lucas put out two pieces today - three players to watch for each team. You can read those pieces here and here.
• I broke down some key differences between this final and the one of two years ago for FFT, very Real Madrid focused.

"When the match begins I'll be more tense, but that's usual. It's part of the coaching job and I like it," the Frenchman said.
"I like this kind of pressure. I've experienced it as a player, but as a coach it's completely different.

"Carlo Ancelotti used to tell me that often, before the final in Lisbon he said to me 'I hope you get to experience this some day as coach' and, well, here we and I keep thinking of Carlo."

"I think we're a bit better in every dimension, but in a final that's meaningless really," he said. "I'm happy because we've done a huge job in the meantime and I really, really believe in hard work.

"The players have done an amazing job, now we have a final ahead of us. We just have to give our all and tomorrow we'll see what happens but we know we're ready.

"They [Atletico] do well against everyone, not just Real Madrid. We know how they're working, there's a good reason why they're in the final. They're doing a really good job and the same applies to us.

"Tomorrow there's a match on and let's see who wins it."

"On top of that, he's playing in a final. When you're playing in a final if you were feeling anything you would forget it. It's a bit of pain but it's nothing and [on Saturday] he'll be there 100 percent."

"It's important to be here again, the past is not worth considering," he said during Friday's media conference.

"We've beaten Madrid so many times in a row, that's the past for us and you can only value us on what we do tomorrow.
"The team fought until the end, it was a hard defeat, but we have hope and we're happy to have a new chance.

"What we've achieved is very difficult. Tomorrow is another opportunity, the final in Lisbon is a reflection of what Atletico Madrid aspire to.

"We have the experience to beat Real Madrid and tomorrow we'll try to do exactly that. We trust in our players, coaches and fans. With their support I'm sure we'll achieve it."

"Madrid always play these games at a very high level," he said. "They have experience at these types of games and lots of playing resources.

"Tomorrow is going to be the most difficult game we've played against them in the past three years. We're facing the best possible rival and there's nothing better than to win the Champions League when you beat one of the best.

"I've dreamt of this since I was a little kid. For us it's the most important game in our lives. I'm convinced tomorrow will be the most important and when you dream, you dream big and tomorrow is a big day for all of us."

"It means everything, everything you dream of when you are a kid," he said at Friday's media conference ahead of the showdown at San Siro.

"I have the chance to make this dream come true. I've played for great teams, but this one is special, it's just what I wanted when I was a kid.

"I had the chance to come back to the club, they gave me the chance to fight for what I really wanted.

"I fight for a place in the team and to score goals again and to be an important player so tomorrow is the game of my life, without doubt.

"There's no doubt that this is the most important game I'll play ever. I'm very happy to play with this club, I started when I was five.

"I had the luck of winning with Chelsea and with the Spanish national team but this is something very special to me."

"It's going to be a very tense, balanced game. The presence of Casemiro gives them the possibility of regrouping better if they lose the ball.

"Casemiro makes Madrid very dangerous on the counter-attack. If you give them space they're very dangerous."

"The club, the players, it's reinventing itself continuously," he said. "And that's what's most valuable in this club. Everyone works with the idea of continuing to grow, you try and try again and if you continue you eventually get what you want.

"To play a final is fantastic, to win it... there is nothing better. It makes you continue to prepare yourself for these moments.

"Not change the structure or the identity, but repeat, repeat, repeat and you can achieve things.

"I think the continuity in the successes the club has had positions you a lot better as one of the best clubs in Europe.

"Few teams are better - perhaps Bayern, Barcelona, Real Madrid - but there's an idea about how we work and that's what allows us to be in this privileged position.

"The only way of maintaining that is by winning."