Toby Alderweireld says there's clear similarities between Southampton and former club Atletico Madrid.

The Belgium defender insists that he can sense definite comparisons between Atletico's extraordinary season and Southampton in this campaign.

"Yes, because in the beginning nobody was giving Atletico a chance," Alderweireld told the Sunday Telegraph.

"Even maybe the last 10 games, people were saying: 'Yeah, they will lose points,' but, just like the coach Simeone, told us: 'Go game by game and at the end we will see. They are better, they have a better squad, better players, but we have something special - we have a team.' We have to have a team and we can do great things like now. Of course, Graziano [Pelle] is scoring, and [Dusan] Tadic is getting his assists, but I think the team is our strength."