The coach of Atletico Madridthe Argentinian Diego Pablo Simeonassured after being eliminated from the Champions League by drawing 0-0 in the second leg of the quarterfinals against Manchester City that his first priority is to “win” and by not achieving it he goes “fucked”, but the second is to feel “proud”.
“I have, like everyone else, priorities, the first priority for me absolutely is to win, and later is to be proud of what we do. We have extraordinary fans, who were close to us throughout the game, pushing the team and responding to what the team gave them on the field. The first priority is to win, the second to feel proud, and I have no doubt that I am proud of the Atlético de Madrid team, because it competes,” he said at a press conference.
“But it is clear that we did not win, and the most important thing is to win,” he added. The Argentine coach spared no adjectives to express his state of mind. “Fucked up because we’re out. You always want to win, no matter how you win, you always celebrate winning because it’s the most important thing in football,” he reiterated.
In the qualifying round, Simeone said that they faced “an extraordinary rival that does not drop below 2-3 goals per game” and stressed that in both games they managed “contain that strength and associative game that they have.”
“In the first we ran out of scoring chances but today we found a quicker way, in the second half above all, to have chances to win the game. We were not forceful and that led us to win the tie“, he added.
Asked if he considers that the City ended up using weapons criticized Athletichow to defend and waste time, Simeone He said that football “has many facets” and is “very debatable”.
“We stay with ours, play against possibly the best team in the world and realize that we were able to compete very wellIt doesn’t make me happy at all, because the only thing that makes me happy is winning. I feel screwed, but it gives me peace of mind that when I go to bed I say, today my old man, Luis Aragonés, those who left in the pandemic, will have seen from above his team that continues to compete very well, “he added.
In another new issue about the criticism of his style and the comment of Pep Guardiola that defensive tactics have been used “since prehistory”, Simeone slipped in a sarcastic comment.
“I do not have to give an opinion and believe that one speaks badly or well. Many times those who have a great lexicon are very intelligent, and they manage to praise you in a scorn. But we are not so stupid that perhaps we have less lexicon”, commented.
The Atlético coach ended up applauding towards the stands and denied having done so towards the rival bench. “At no time did I applaud the rival bench, I applauded our people… And it seemed fair to me to applaud something that was seen and strongly felt what was happening, that the footballers were giving our people what they wanted, more beyond that we could not give the pass that was the important thing”, commented.
Asked if his players crossed “a line” with respect to their aggressiveness, Simeone He referred to the referee. “I always believe that justice is on the part of those who have to implement it, and in this case there are the referees. It also seems to me that a prison that could have been reviewed, that of Correait is seen that it was understood that it was not and that it was not even to observe it,” he commented.
Lastly, they asked him if he would like to give advice to the Real Madrid to beat the City. “Me to Real Madrid, advice in the Champions League? It would be disrespectful,” he concluded.