The Rojiblancos dropped down to seventh place in La Liga after slumping to a 3-2 loss against an Espanyol side who, despite flying high in the table, had only picked up four points and one goal from their previous six away games this season. To add salt to Atletico's wounds, coach Quique Sanchez Flores was sent off late on and had to be restrained at the end of the game as he came onto the pitch to vent his fury. Sanchez Flores preferred not to dwell too long on that incident on Tuesday, insisting his focus is solely on the Europa League encounter with Aris where a win would put the reigning champions through. "It was all very strange. I only want to think about the game against Aris and secure our passage to the following round, get back to playing well and make the fans happy," he said. "I hope that my ban will be as minimal as possible. I'm not proud of what happened and I hope it never happens again. I must keep my cool." Atletico suffered a poor start to the defence of their Europa League title after taking just one point from their opening two Group B games, but back-to-back wins over Rosenborg has left them in a decent position in the standings. They are currently second on seven points, one behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen and three ahead of Aris, who will be well aware their own hopes of progressing through will be over if they lose at the Vicente Calderon. Sanchez Flores, whose side lost 1-0 in Greece, added: "Aris know that it's their last shot at qualifying. They will be competitive and we know that it will be a difficult game. We must not underestimate our opponents. "(However) I'm more concerned about my team than our opponents. We need to have a very good game to get the victory." Aris stunned Atletico in their opening match, Javito's superb second-half goal earning them all three points and extending their impressive unbeaten home record in Europe to 22 games. Hector Cuper's side have struggled since then, though, and away defeats to Rosenborg and Leverkusen combined with a home draw against the German outfit means they are almost in the last-chance saloon for tomorrow's game. Since that draw with Leverkusen, Aris have picked up just four points from a possible 12 in their domestic league and were beaten 1-0 by lowly Panserraikos at the weekend.
