MADRID, 11 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The coach of Atlético de Madrid, Diego Pablo Simeone, has assured that the second round of the round of 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday against Real Madrid generates “enthusiasm, adrenaline and illusion”, especially to dispute it in the Metropolitan, and has affirmed that although there can be “something that looks like” between Carlo Ancelotti and the Italian coach is “much better.”
“I spent a lot of time in Italy, he was born in Italy, and I think the reasons are more basic and experience lived in Italian football as a footballer, as a coach. There may be something that looks like, but Ancelotti is much better than me,” he said at a press conference.
The Argentine coach, on the other hand, did not want to venture what he thinks will happen in the match. “What do I feel? That surely the rival as we will prepare the game in the best way. But the only one who knows and is clear about what is going to happen is God,” he said, although he was confident in the comeback.
“I believe in my players, I have confidence in the squad that I have, absolutely I understand and interpret the heart of my players. I have no doubt that we will go to seek to continue in this Champions, because our goal is to play the final,” he said. “It gives me joy to be preparing such an important party for Atlético de Madrid and for its rival in Madrid, in our house, with our people. Of course it generates enthusiasm, it generates adrenaline, it generates you illusion. All normal situations that can happen to anyone before a great event like the one who will be tomorrow,” he added.
Although they will have their fans supporting them in the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, the ‘Cholo’ stressed that “reality is what happens in the field.” “The reality is what is going to happen down there, and from top to top the energies can grow and be in copy the field with what happens in the stands. Only with what happens in the stands we will not win the game, we have to make a great game. It is a great game and hopefully we can prove it in the field,” he said.
“Football has different scenarios that are happening within the game, different energies that are produced according to the team that has to attack … we will surely cross difficult moments defensively, we will go Party, “he continued.
In addition, he explained that Real Madrid, “having as vertical players as Rodrygo, Brahim, Bellingham, Vinícius, Mbappé,” bets on “its characteristics.” “It lives more about the speed than on the most associative game, it is a matter of individual characteristic of each of its players. We are a collective team that can alternate the high game, the lowest game, with possession, without position … I think we can handle ourselves in different situations. Hopefully tomorrow we will find all this to get the best out,” he said.
In another order of things, he said that this Wednesday will be “a great game” by Antoine Griezmann. “I am very convinced that tomorrow it will be a great Griezmann party,” he said, before talking about the possibility that the tie is resolved in the penalty shootout. “We have not trained them today, it may be that after training we kill some. It is never the same to kick today in the preparation that tomorrow, but there is also a possibility of reaching penalties,” he said.
Finally, he reflected on the importance of duel for younger players. “Giuliano, Barrios, Lino, Riquelme … some can play. They are not accustomed to living these games, but it is part of the growth and of improving to face these great games. I think that any footballer in the world would like to play these games. And the word is, you have to play it. The tension always appears, that pressure that one gets, and, in reality, is a game,”
“Ask him if they had ever imagined being playing these games, surely they answer that they are still boys and are in the process of meeting these realities. It is the most beautiful thing that can happen, the youth that begins to live these games, like the boys we have, who are from the house. It excites me, they will surely live a very nice day,” he concluded.