Roger Schmidt is confident that Bayer Leverkusen can surprise Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday.
The Bundesliga side have stuttered domestically in recent weeks, falling out of the top three after one win in their last five.
It is hardly ideal preparation for Leverkusen as they return to European action at the BayArena against an Atletico team brimming with confidence.
Diego Simeone's men, who have conceded just three times so far in the competition and scored 14 goals, travel to Germany on the back of a 3-0 win over Almeria in La Liga.
However, head coach Schmidt believes Leverkusen have the quality to upset last season's beaten finalists.
"Atletico are hard to play against, nobody likes facing them," said the 47-year-old. "But I am optimistic that we will get chances.
"The team has done a great deal to stand here, and we will do everything we can to get as far as we can."
While acknowledging the quality of Atleti striker Mario Mandzukic, a former Bundesliga player with Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich, Schmidt expressed optimism over his side's prospects of containing the Spanish champions.
"I think all European top clubs have good strikers, otherwise they wouldn't be a top club," he added.
"But in the Bundesliga we are playing against very good offensive lines as well. So we are used to competing against very good quality.
"Mandzukic is a special striker because he's physically very robust and very good at crosses as well. Obviously we'll have to make sure to defend them very good and be very watchful in these situations, always stay close to our opponents.
"Of course the combination of Antoine Griezmann and Mandzukic leaves Atletico with many opportunities at the moment but, like I said, it's similar to the Bundesliga where we play against top opponents. We recently played against Wolfsburg, who don't have the worst offence."