Champions League

Florent Sinama-Pongolle could find himself an invaluable source of information for Atletico over the next few weeks.

Having already proved his worth on the pitch with four league goals since his summer switch from Recreativo Huelva, Sinama-Pongolle is now set to be as useful off it as Atletico prepare to face Marseille and Liverpool in Europe.

Sinama-Pongolle, a former France Under-21 international, is more than familiar with Wednesday's visitors to the Vicente Calderon, Marseille, while the 23-year-old also needs no introduction to Liverpool either having spent three years at Anfield.

"They're going to be two very special matches for me," said the former Le Havre hitman said on his club's website.

"To start, Marseille reminds me of my roots, of the place where I was born. They're one of the big clubs in France as they're the only team to win a Champions League.

"The match on Wednesday is going to be a very tough one because they're strong and have very passionate supporters.

"They form a very experienced team with lots of pace, they don't allow you time to think and that's something that we'll have to control if we want to win the game."

Atletico have enjoyed a fine start to the season both domestically and in Europe, with arguably their most impressive result coming with last month's 3-0 away win over PSV Eindhoven in their opening Group C match.

However, Javier Aguirre's side were taken down a notch or two at the weekend when they were beaten 1-0 at home by Sevilla in a match where Atletico - having won their previous three home matches 4-0 - rarely looked like scoring

Defender Luis Perea has urged his team-mates not to dwell on the defeat though, saying: "We lost a match and that's that. It hurts losing to home against a direct rival, but we have to move on and focus on Marseille."

Marseille make the relatively short trip to the Spanish capital knowing they can ill afford another defeat after losing 2-1 at home to Liverpool in their first group fixture.

Domestically Eric Gerets' side seem to have enjoyed a better start to their season than Atletico, winning three and drawing four of their opening seven league matches, but they have failed to triumph in any of their last five games in all competitions.

Striker Mamadou Niang said: "We go over there calm and with a lot of confidence, and trying to get a result.

"We know it will not be easy because Atletico Madrid are in form at the moment. They are a team who are great on the ball and who are going to pose us problems.

"But we are going over there to get back the points we have lost because we started the competition with a defeat. We are going there not to lose."

Gerets has Baky Kone back after injury, but Julien Rodriguez, Ronald Zubar and Elliot Grandin are all missing because of fitness concerns.

Atletico chief Aguirre is able to call on John Heitinga again, but Diego Forlan is still absent through injury while it remains to be seen who, if any, of Maniche, Ever Banega, Pablo Ibanez, Georgios Seitaridis and Luis Garcia will be able to play.