Spanish press lay into 'inferior' Atletico Madrid after being dumped out of UCL

Atletico Madrid have been picked apart by the Spanish press after they were dumped out of the Champions League by a 'much superior' Chelsea.

Diego Simeone's men, who currently sit top of LaLiga, struggled to break Thomas Tuchel's solid Blues side down over two legs, losing the last-of-16 tie 3-0 on aggregate.

After an impressive 1-0 win at the Wanda Metropolitano last month, Hakim Ziyech doubled Chelsea's aggregate lead before Emerson's late strike made it 3-0 over two legs on Wednesday.

Atletico had Stefan Savic sent off late on for elbowing Toni Rudiger off the ball, leaving the Madrid men to tuck their tails in between their legs before returning to Spain.

The limp performance from Atletico has seen them come under heavy criticism from the media back home, with Spanish news outlet AS branding their exit at the hands of Chelsea as their 'funeral in London'.

Marca went for slightly less damning approach, claiming that Simeone's side will now focus all of their energy into the title race, which they only lead Barcelona by four points.

However, the Spanish newspaper described the side's performance as 'gentle and inoffensive' – despite having the firepower of Joao Felix, Luis Suarez and Marcos Llorente all on the pitch to do the damage.

The impressive win for the Blues sees them enter Friday's quarter-final draw – and Tuchel insists Chelsea fear no one in the competition

'The most important is that we feel we deserve this,' said Tuchel.

'The most important is that we give the feedback for the guys what they did here in terms of quality and intensity.

'It's most important you feel it and that no one has to convince you. You need to feel it.

'They play with a special bond and performances and results like this give you a certain edge and glue to achieve special things. You can only achieve this through results and experiences.

'I'm pretty sure no one wants to play against us. It's a super difficult challenge ahead because we are already in the last eight.

'It's a big step, but no need to be afraid, we take what we get and prepare as best as possible.'