Angel Correa (3-9-1995, Rosario, Argentina) has made a great season with Atlético. He has scored nine goals and given eleven assists during the course. Achieved a so decisive in Valladolid to start the comeback and was decisive during LaLiga participating in all the matches. He relived those historical moments with AS.
What feeling does having been a league champion leave one?
-Above all happiness. A feeling of enormous happiness for everything we have experienced throughout the year and to end this way, with the title, is something magnificent.
Did you think it would turn out like this?
The truth is that one cannot imagine winning a League suffering in this way. You hope to win something calmer, but at Atlético nothing is ever easy and achieving it like that gives you enormous satisfaction.
When do you realize that you take the title? Maybe after winning the agonizing Elche? In the game against Barcelona?
Yes, in those games that so many of us suffered to win, after Elche, after the draw against Barcelona, then Real … We ended up winning them and we talked a lot together. We told ourselves that this League could no longer escape us. There, when we won by suffering so much, we thought it was the year, in those hard times was when we believed the most.
“We told ourselves that this League could no longer escape us”
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He has been one of the LaLiga players …
I believe that each of us has contributed what the team needs and that is why we took the title. Each one of us has given our maximum and it has been one of the keys.
Yes, but you scored nine goals and eleven assists, important numbers, and you appeared when the others failed …
It is true that personally I am also very happy. I've played higher up, closer to the rival area and that's where I feel most comfortable and I think that's where I can help the team the most. That's why the numbers I have been able to get.
What goal does he keep?
I prefer the one from Valladolid. We were losing and it served to tie a difficult match. Then came Luis Suárez's goal, the goal we needed to be champions.
“The toe shot comes out strong and the goalkeeper doesn't have time to react”
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It was an atypical goal, where he dribbled past several rivals in the area and needed to hit the toe to score …
Yes, it is true, it is a rare goal to see. It is a resource that luckily I am good at. I use it in training sessions, in games with limited space. It is always difficult for the goalkeeper to stop that shot, since he expects you to prepare your leg to hit. The toe shot comes out strong and the goalkeeper does not have time to react.
He missed some goals called during the season. Did you have a bad time?
Yes, I had a hard time, but it's football. I know there is always revenge. And I had the support of my teammates and the coaching staff, because they always told me to be calm, that the goal was going to come. They told me to continue on the same path, that having chances was not by chance and that the goal would come.
Seeing Cholo consoling him after failing a chance against Betis at the last moment is one of the images of the championship …
We knew that that match was important to us, that we had to win it. We started very well, but Betis leveled. And in the end I had a couple of chances to score that would have given us all three points. Cholo was waiting for me when I was on my way to the dressing room and he gave me strength. He told me: “Be calm, the goal will come.”
“Simeone told me, 'be calm, the goal will come'”
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That moment of encouragement for a downcast player is priceless …
Yes, it is very important, but he also did it because he has known me for many years. He knows how football feels and he knew how bad it was because of those plays and because of the situation the team was in.
Against Levante any fan would have killed him. He threw an empty shot to the clouds …
At that moment you can't believe it. There is no possible explanation. You don't understand how that can happen, since you already see the goal and you are celebrating it. It goes up and you see no possible explanation. It's a horrible time. But it's football and you have to be strong in your head and get over it quickly, since you know that in the next game you will have your revenge.
Well, he did it, since he finished the season with great confidence, making impossible plays …
It is true that I had a lot of confidence to continue creating situations and helping the team. He needed security and head. The goals and the chances had to come.
The mayor of Madrid, Martínez-Almeida, almost asked him for public forgiveness in the celebration of the title for criticizing him in one of those failures of his …
The truth is that it was not heard very well. He did not know who he was addressing. I did not know that he was referring to me.
Not every day a mayor of your city praises someone publicly …
I don't take his words right or wrong. In football you always have to respect each other's opinions. I already said that it was not heard in the best way. I know that not only him, I know that many fans were very angry about those goals that did not arrive. But in the end they came, they served to help the team and to make people happy.
“Having participated in all the games fills me with pride”
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He played 48 games, all of which the team has played, none have been lost.
Yes, I have participated in all of them. It is an enormous pride and happiness. I have been lucky not to miss any game and to always be able to help. It is true that this fills me with pride.
Did it bother you that year after year there was talk that you could go out in the summer?
Always, every year, they talk, but it doesn't bother me. It is the club's decision. The only serious thing was when I was able to go to Milan, but it didn't happen and I stayed here. And I was very happy because from the first moment I felt good at Atlético, I always thought about growing up and enjoying myself at this club. I am very happy at Atlético.
His rojiblanca adventure began difficult, since his first season, 2014-15, he could not play due to a heart operation.
Yes, and starting like this in the club makes you want it and feel it differently.
“I am very happy at Atlético”
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Simeone has won his second Liga and for you it is everything.
It is one more proof of everything he has done since he arrived at Atlético. We are every year competing against great teams. Winning two leagues speaks of work, of all the dedication to the club. It is a reward for so much work.
The future looks good.
We have a great team. Sure there are things to improve, but that already corresponds to the coaching staff.
Do you have to be ambitious and not just stick with this title?
You always have to be ambitious. You always have to improve the numbers from last season. When we return from vacation we must think this way.
The mole was the tie with Chelsea.
Yes, because we were excited to do a good job in the Champions League. We lost the tie in the first game. It was weird, we didn't play at home … Next season we'll come back and compete like every year to do something important in the Champions League.
Does it bother you to be called Angelito?
No, not at all, it doesn't bother me. I am used to it.
Finally, who is the title dedicated to?
To the whole family, to my friends, to the fans. And to my mother, who has also gone through very difficult times. She is a warrior. It goes for her.