Saul Niguez has played down the impact of playing at Anfield, dismissing talk it is the toughest place he has played in his career.  

Anfield has garnered a reputation as one of the most intense atmospheres in European football but the Atletico Madrid midfielder recently went there and knocked Liverpool, the reigning champions, out in a sublime win. 

And when quizzed on a video call with a nurse and club volunteer as to whether winning at Anfield was his toughest assignment, Saul opted to play down the famous 'Anfield Factor'.  

'Anfield was a very difficult game, that's something we knew already,' he told Atletico's official website.

'It's not the game where I've suffered most on the pitch, where I've said: 'How bad are we?' In Munich, I had a really bad time.

'I was saying to myself: 'We won't get out of here alive.''

He is referring to the semi-final second-leg against Bayern Munich in 2015-16, when Diego Simeone's side, while losing 2-1 in Munich, reached the final on away goals.   

When Simeone's side pulled off the unfancied victory at Anfield to knock Jurgen Klopp's side out, they became the first team to beat them at home all season.  

A 1-0 win in Madrid was followed up with a 3-2 win in extra-time at Anfield and Saul and his team-mates were the last team to play Liverpool before lockdown was initiated amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

They were accused of being lucky but Simeone, speaking in a video link to Argentina, said: 'Football is like boxing, you have to know when it is time to attack. Liverpool are a tremendous team but we knew that we could hurt them.

'When they talk about how we were lucky, I think of a team that was losing 2-0 that then scored three goals. That is not luck. You have to value the entire game.' 

Marcos Llorente and Alvaro Morata, who both came off the bench, proved decisive on the night and it reinforced to Saul that Atletico's strength goes beyond the starting XI.

'At Anfield, I had confidence in the team, we had chances,' he added. 

'[Impact of substitutes] says a lot about the whole team because the players that started didn't make the difference, but those that came off the bench did.

'It's a lesson to think about the team ahead of the individual, which is what makes us different.'  

Atletico are enduring a frustrating campaign domestically but are one of the sides through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, which UEFA hope will resume in August. 

They last reached the final in that 2015-16 season where they navigated past Bayern, only to lose to bitter rivals Real Madrid on penalties in the final.