Thibaut Courtois did not hold back when responding to Diego Simeone’s fiery press conference following Atletico Madrid’s Champions League Round of 16 elimination against Real Madrid. The Belgian goalkeeper, speaking in the mixed zone after the game, dismissed Simeone’s complaints about the disallowed penalty and criticized the Atletico manager’s reaction.
Courtois: ‘I’m Fed Up With That Victimhood’
Simeone had made headlines in the post-match press conference when he aggressively questioned journalists about Julián Álvarez’s double touch during his penalty attempt. However, Courtois was not sympathetic to the Argentine’s outrage.
“I’m always fed up with that victimhood, always crying over things like that. Referees don’t want to benefit a team, neither in Spain nor in Europe; they saw it clearly and they called it that way. They’re human, and with technology, they saw it clearly. If you’re winning 1-0 in the first minute and don’t go for the second, that’s the fault of their game.”
Penalty Incident: ‘It Was a Double Touch’
“In the end, the penalty shootout was a lottery. I felt like it was a double touch and I told the referee. It’s not easy to see, and it’s bad luck for them. Then it was bad luck for me that I couldn’t keep Correa’s shot out. We didn’t play our best game, but we got through, and that’s what matters.”
Studying the Penalty Takers
“We’ve talked about what we’ve done this week, and then it depends on the striker... Sorloth has always changed when he’s taken shots, I thought he would change. With Julián, I was in doubt; I didn’t think he was going to shoot in the middle. We didn’t have any information about Llorente, but I remember that in training, he liked to shoot to the right, and he hit a shot that went wide.”