There's a fine line between genius and stupidity. As it stands, going into this second leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 between Chelsea and Atletico Madrid, it seems like Diego Simeone is standing right on top of it.

He spent the entire first game instructing Atletico to play anti-football. It's a technique he's used before to great effect, by spending 90 minutes blocking your opponent and shutting them down at every turn, they become frustrated and, in the world of knockout football, all they need to do is slip up once. Then you can nab a quick goal and slide into the next round.

It worked against Liverpool last year, knocking them out of the cup, and seemed to be working against Chelsea too – until Olivier Giroud saved the Blues' bacon with a stunning bicycle kick. Not only was it expertly executed, it came late enough in the game (the 68th minute) that Atletico had essentially rope-a-doped themselves.

With Chelsea heading into their away leg with a 1-0 advantage, they can sit back and defend all they like, and under the guidance of new manager Thomas Tuchel, that would be to their advantage as they have conceded only once in the past eight games across all competitions.

This puts Atletico in a bind. They now have to come out and play, be aggressive and take the goal to Chelsea while also preventing them for scoring, as then they would need three to tie due to the away goal rule.

Though they have sat atop La Liga since November 7 last year, Simeone's squad have been dropping a lot of unnecessary points lately. Draws against Real Madrid, Getafe and Celta Vigo, as well as a loss to Levante, in their past six domestically show that they have a habit of making it difficult for themselves.

Quite often this is because of their over reliance on Luis Suarez. He's been exceptional this season, however he was never intended to be the solitary goal threat of the team, which is what he's become: he has double the goals of next-best striker Marcos Llorente and when Suarez doesn't score, the team don't win.

Thankfully for Simeone, this is Tuchel's problem too, only it is applied to his whole team. When brought in, he was supposed to get Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, goal machines in the Bundesliga, into form. While the ex-PSG, ex-Dortmund man has solidified the defense, he hasn't done anything to improve the front.

Chelsea have scored 11 goals in nine games and few came from open play. The best example is their recent 2-0 win over Everton: the first was an own goal fly Ben Godfrey, the second a penalty.

If Atletico come out swinging and prove heir calibre, then Chelsea will have a tough game on their hands, but the La Liga leaders have been unable to do that for so long and are facing a team almost perfectly designed to prevent goals, so football's evil genius Simeone might end up with a taste of his own medicine.