Koke optimistic for Atletico, but sees Barca, Real as title favorites

Atletico Madrid midfielder Jorge Resurrection (Koke) said on Wednesday that the side which won the 2014 BBVA Primera Liga title and finished behind Barcelona and Real Madrid last season, now has one of its best squads in recent seasons.

However, despite his optimism, the midfielder, who has turned down options to play in England, still sees Barcelona and Real Madrid as favorites for the league title.

A busy summer in the offices of the Vicente Calderon Stadium has seen the club bring in players of the caliber of Jackson Martinez and Luciano Vietto to add power in attack.

Felipe Luis has returned after a year at Chelsea, along with Stefan Savic from Fiorentina and Belgian midfielder Yannick Carrasco to give Atletico a more balanced squad.

Although they only started the season with a sluggish 1-0 win at home to Las Palmas, Koke said he expected to see his side get better.

"We have one the best squads we have had in the last few years. It's exciting," he said.

The Spain international midfielder believes the new signings, plus the return of Oliver Torres from loan at Porto, means Atletico have "more variety. We can play the ball around or be more physical if we need to," he said.

This weekend sees Koke make 150th appearance for the club, aged just 23 years old, but he knows it will be a difficult game as his side travel to face an in-form Sevilla, who he sees as a direct rival to Atletico's ambitions.

"We are in a league with Sevilla, Valencia and Villarreal and we need to assure we finish at least in third place. We all want to end the season winning everything we can, but for the moment, we have to focus on finishing third (behind Barca and Real Madrid) and everything that comes after that is a bonus," he concluded. Endi