Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone spoke following the UEFA Champions League elimination to Real Madrid on penalties — and he didn’t hold back with his emotions.
When asked about the controversial VAR involvement in the shootout, Simeone responded bluntly by saying, “when he puts his foot down and kicks, the ball doesn’t move a bit, but if the VAR called it… I’ve never seen a penalty called by the VAR, but it’s okay too and they must have seen that he touched it.
“I want to believe they must have seen that he touched it,” he continued. “What did you see? Hands up, who believes Julián touched it twice. ... Ah! And none of you have raised your hand, eh?”
Simeone on the past influencing the shootout
“The players who were there today were not in previous shootouts, only Oblak, but most were not. It is not worth thinking about that. We played a very good game, we competed in an incredible way. We could have added to our lead in some parts of the match in our favor, but we went to penalties. Apparently, I have just seen the image of the penalty, the referee says that when Julián steps and kicks the ball, he touches it with his foot, but the ball does not move. That’s enough to argue whether it was a goal or not, but I’m proud of my players. I am happy. We competed in an exemplary manner. Yes, we may not have been able to beat Madrid in the Champions League. Yes, of course, we couldn’t, but they had a hard time every time. They will remember enjoying having won, but thinking ‘they always make it difficult for us’.”
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Simeone on the performance
“We played an incredible game. A lot of energy, a lot of strength, a lot of effort, playing as a team... We controlled the game very well against a team that plays very well and has very good players.”
Simeone on encouraging his players after that ending
“Fans leave with the pain of being out, without a doubt, we all wanted to play in the final, but knowing that their team left everything. There are two ways to go to sleep: one, saying how badly we played, we didn’t do what we had to do; and the other is to say that we gave it everything. This team gave everything, and deserved the applause that the people gave us back. People were there yesterday, and they are still here today. It was a very nice day. It was not our turn to continue in the knockouts, but I leave in peace.”
Simeone on recovering before Barcelona
“We’ll see. It’s clear that when you go out like this, it’s not easy to digest. We have a great rival on Sunday. I imagine that Barça would think that the best thing would be for us to go to penalties. We will arrive tired, beaten, out of a tie in which we competed over two matches as we had to compete, and we will play using what we have left in our engines.”
Simeone on this being the worst Real Madrid team he’s faced
“That’s very harsh. Madrid is an incredible team with players like Mbappé, Vinícius, Bellingham, Rodrygo, Brahim, Valverde... They have won the Champions League a couple of times. They are the best team in the world for sure. They continue to prove that in the Champions League they are very strong.”