Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone says concentration and control will be key for last season's finalists when they face Bayer Leverkusen away in Wednesday's Champions League last-16, first leg tie.

Madrid arrive in Germany in a rich-vein of form with ex-Bayern Munich striker Mario Mandzukic having claimed 20 goals in all competitions this season and the defending champions third in La Liga.

Bayer, who reached the 2002 Champions League final where they were beaten by Real Madrid, are struggling for form having leaked a late equaliser at Augsburg on Saturday in a 2-2 draw and are winless in their last three games to leave coach Roger Schmidt under pressure in his first season in charge.

To make matters worse, history is against Leverkusen who have lost their last four two-legged ties against Spanish opposition.

The Germans were humiliated at the hands of Barcelona in 2012, then Paris St Germain last year at the same stage of the competition and have never won a last 16 tie in the current format.

But Argentinian-born Simeone says he wants to see a poised display from his team at Leverkusen's BayArena.

"It's a huge match for us. We want to keep control of the game and also keep possession of the ball," said the 44-year-old.

"We have to be careful. If we're in possession, Leverkusen will apply a lot of pressure to get the ball back.

"We're in very good shape and are really enthusiastic. But we have to be very focused - this is always very important for our performance. If we do that, we get a good result."

Typically for a Champions League coach, Simeone ignored Leverkusen's below-par results and insisted his side must respect the home side, that lost a 5-4 thriller to Wolfsburg ten days ago when striker Son Heung-Min scored a second-half hat-trick only to end up on the losing side.

"Leverkusen have a good coach and good players, they're a well-balanced team. It's always important to show respect to your opponents," he said.

"I don't know if teams give us more respect now just because we've done well in the past.

"There may be more attractive opponents than us, who you would rather face, but we're here."

Schmidt had earlier insisted Leverkusen are the under-dogs to reach the quarter-finals, but Simeone quickly rebuffed the 'favourites' tag for his team.

"I don't think we're the favourites in this tie. It starts at 0-0 so anything is possible," he said.