The Atlético de Madrid coach did not share Xavi’s complaints, pointing out to the press after the match against Alavés: “If a player can’t live with criticism, he couldn’t play football”
Later he defended him for being his colleague and did not get angry when Xavi criticized Atlético’s game in an interview with Jorge Valdano: “It was not a criticism, it was misread, it was an opinion. And opinions must be respected”
Diego Pablo Simeone, coach of Atlético de Madrid, He has rejected Xavi’s theory (press criticism affects footballers) and, at the same time, he has defended him for being a professional colleague. The Argentine coach’s assessments have been contradictory after his time on the Cadena SER program ‘El Larguero’, presented by Manu Carreño.
Questioned about whether his team is affected by the criticism from the press, as Xavi Hernández assured after the Barça-Alavés (2-1), Simeone has assured that “If a player can’t live with criticism, he couldn’t play football. We are exposed.” He added that “Criticism from the press doesn’t affect me. What’s more, sometimes I share it. Sometimes I say, well, you’re right. There are some journalists who are right.”
Simeone He added that “I understand that you – from the press – are in a place where you live day to day, what happens at the moment, and we have a lot of information that you don’t have. Does the criticism affect my players? ? Let’s see, if a player cannot live with criticism, he cannot play football because we are in a place of exposure, we are exposed, Also we coaches, like the players, daily, because we play twice a week. Not being prepared for that is complicated because criticism is going to appear, because you are not going to win every game, “You’re not going to always play well, you’re not going to have 90 minutes of possession, you’re not going to defend 90 perfect minutes because football is like life.”
Insisting on the words of Xavi after last Sunday’s duel in Montjuïc, Simeonehe later took the side of the Egarense coach: “You have to see how he said it, how the question was asked. I’m going to defend my colleague.”
Manu Carreño insisted: “It’s good that you defend him, but he could also defend you from time to time because he has hit you hard”to which Simeone responded: “I don’t remember, when did he say that?”. Carreño responded: “I remember that in an interview with Jorge Valdano he said, man, that a big team like Atlético de Madrid plays the way it plays…”. Simeone did not take it badly: “Okay, okay, it’s an opinion. It wasn’t a criticism, it was misread, it was an opinion. And opinions must be respected.” Carreño closed the debate: “Okay, I agree with you on this.”