There are nine league games left, one last arreón to close the season. Atlético, the leader, is aware that they have the hardest effort left to conquer the League and this Thursday they have opted for a twinning meal to charge with positive energy. After training, the footballers have gotten on the bus to go to lunch.
These acts of coexistence are common in the dressing room, often called by the CEO himself, Miguel Ángel Gil. This happened several times last season, when the team struggled to enter the Champions League positions with difficulties. Now, despite doubts about the latest results, the situation is objectively much better and the team fights for the title.
Thus, coaching staff and players, with Torreira recently arrived in Madrid, along with some leaders, they will share a moment of relaxation before what is ahead. On Sunday it's a visit to Betis, a day after a Clásico that can bring the rojiblancos down from first place, even if only provisionally. The objectives are clear in the group, beyond match by match.
Cerezo: “We have to beat Betis and continue towards the League“
The president of Atlético de Madrid, Enrique Cerezo, has especially trusted that his team will win next Sunday at Benito Villamarín against Betis because at this time in the League “A victory can secure you.” This has been expressed by the rojiblanco president to several journalists at the headquarters of the Alicante Provincial Council, where he has attended the opening of the exhibition of 25 paintings by his wife and painter, María Jesús de Frutos Arribas, entitled 'Life' .
Together with the president of the Alicante Provincial Council, Carlos Mazón, Cerezo commented that Atlético de Madrid has enjoyed “a great advantage that unfortunately due to a series of sporting circumstances has been diminishing”. “Now we are all there, on the starting line,” he continued in reference to FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, two teams that “have had some bad times” but now “are fine.” “They both have a chance, just like us, of winning the championship,” so “Now what is needed is to win against Betis on Sunday in Seville and continue the march towards the League” despite the absences of Luis Suárez and Marcos Llorente.
Pruled by the referees, has affected that he has always defended them and he will defend them while the VAR has reiterated that he does not like it, so that “when one does not like something it is difficult to speak well of it.” Regarding Diego Pablo Simeone, he has commented that the Argentine “has his confidence that he considers that he can be a champion” and has added that, in turn, the directive always trusts “in Simeone”.
On the qualifying rounds of the Champions League, he commented that “luck influences football a lot” and, in this context, he recalled that in the last tie, where Atlético lost to London's Chelsea, the first leg had to be played in Romania, “out of our field, which was a handicap”. Of the only Spanish club that survives in this edition, Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid, has thought that he looks good, “it's a great team”.
About your visit to Alicante, Cerezo has stated that it is “a pity” that it lacks a football team in the highest category (Hercules disputes the Second Division B). “All Alicante people have to fight for Alicante to be in the First Division. With the beautiful city that it is and with the attractiveness it has, the only thing it lacks is a team in the First Division,” he insisted.