Atletico Madrid fell to a 4-0 away defeat against Arsenal on Tuesday night, their second defeat in England in the Champions League this season following last month's 3-2 loss against Liverpool.
Diego Simeone speaks to the media in a post match press conference following the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD3 match between Arsenal FC and Atletico de Madrid.
Diego Simeone has aimed a slight dig at Liverpool by saying that Arsenal are the best team his side have faced this season.
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Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has aimed a slight dig at Liverpool following his team’s Champions League loss against Arsenal. The Spanish side fell to a 4-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium.
It means that Simeone’s side have not enjoyed their time in England in the competition this season. Last month they came to Liverpool only to be on the wrong side of a 92nd-minute winner from Virgil van Dijk in a 3-2 defeat, where Simeone was involved in an incident with the crowd.
Despite facing Liverpool this season, Simeone has said that Arsenal are the "best team" that his side have come up against. Speaking post-match Simeone made his feelings on the Gunners' performance clear.
"Yes, I'd say the best team we've faced this team," he told Amazon Prime, via a translator, when asked if Arsenal were the strongest team he has come up against so far.
"Arsenal, they compete so well, they run and they run; there's quality all over the pitch and yeah, well they deserved to win today and I want to congratulate them on that win as well.”
After a goalless first half at the Emirates Stadium, four goals in 13 minutes took Arsenal away from Atletico. Gabriel Magalhaes opened the scoring in the 57th minute before Gabriel Martinelli got the second in the 64th.
Viktor Gyokeres then scored twice. The first came in the 67th minute before he rounded off the win three minutes later.
"It's a learning curve, we just need to keep improving," Simeone said on the game. "I thought we competed really well to begin with.
"There were two situations in the game that didn't go our way that should have gone our way. And then from 60 minutes onwards, well they were the better team and they deserved to win."
Diego Simeone during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD3 match between Arsenal FC and Atletico de Madrid.
Diego Simeone watched his side fall to a 4-0 defeat against Arsenal in the Champions League.
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Defender David Hancko was in agreement with his manager on Arsenal. "A very tough game," he told UEFA.
"You can expect this because they're one of the best teams in the world right now - definitely. It was working in the first half, we were able to defend, even if they created a few chances."
Arsenal currently sit top of the Premier League table and return to action on Sunday when they take on Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium. The win maintained their 100% record in the Champions League so far this season.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are looking to halt a run of four defeats in a row when they take on German side Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday. They have had disruption ahead of the game with the club being forced to cancel their pre-match press conference due to delays in their flight out to Germany.
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