MADRID, 20 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The coach of Atlético de Madrid, Diego Pablo Simeone, stated this Friday that “the protagonism and intention” of fighting for La Liga EA Sports “cannot” be conditioned by “the scenario” of this day because we have to come out with that idea “everywhere”, and added that the victory against Barça, which would place his team as the leader, would not open the door to do “something important” in the competition with so many days pending.
“If we propose only that (being able to fight for the title) because we are playing against Barcelona, we are on the wrong path. We have to propose everywhere. Nobody assures you that just by going to Barcelona and winning that match, the door will open for you for something important because there are 20 more games left. The protagonism and the intention do not involve the stage, so I do not take it as a situation like that,” he commented at a press conference.
The red and whites go to Barcelona with the possibility of becoming leaders, although the coach insists that “there are five months left.” “We have the same points that we had last year, the difference is that Real Madrid and Barcelona do not have the points that they had last year. We are moderately going through the paths that we always travel, then the results of the rivals will show how far They let us compete,” he said.
Atlético de Madrid arrives at this Saturday’s event in Barcelona with 11 consecutive victories and “working very well as a team.” “We are going to face a team that plays very well, I like the youth they have there in the middle of the field with many boys who really play very good football. We have our strength to compete in a match that will surely be entertaining,” he said.
“They have Raphinha, who I have no doubt is going to be one of the best players in LaLiga for his courage, for his way of playing. Surely they look for that pressure as they have shown since the season began, until today they have not changed and I don’t think they will change for the coach because he has done very well, beyond the setbacks he has had lately, but always in all these setbacks he has dominated the game, he has been better than the rival and he has had chances to win the games. games he lost,” he said.
Simeone does not believe that they will change “anything” despite the situation because “the style and what he is looking for gives him the results.” “In reality they want to be protagonists and we will behave accordingly to try to take the game to the place where we believe it will be best for us,” he commented.
“We think about the team, how with the strength we have to take the game where we believe and from there we will work accordingly to what we are looking for and we will continue along that same line,” he said.
Simeone praised the play of Lamine Yamal, who will miss the game due to injury, an “extraordinary footballer” who is growing “enormously day by day.” “In duels he is surely one of the best there is for the offensive part. But they have others like Ferran Torres, like Pedri, like Olmo, like any of those who can play there in that position to play looking for another way for what interests them “, commented the ‘Cholo’.
On the other hand, the rojiblanco coach assures that he has “not” found “the key” to beat the Blaugrana team at home. “It is clear that it has cost us a lot and that the numbers speak for themselves,” he confessed.
For Simeone, Conor Gallagher “can give a little more work” due to his ability as a midfielder “with second line arrival to be able to attack”, while Samu Lino “is more extreme”. “Lino has other associative characteristics than Conor. I don’t know which of the two can have more goals because they are even there. But the difference is that one would seem more offensive and the other would seem more defensive, but I don’t know who has more goal of the two,” he argued.
He also had words for Julián Álvarez who tries to surround him “with people who can generate his best game.” “From there the positioning that he has had in these last few games surely gives him more freedom to be able to generate everything he is generating. Then, of course, I would like to put Sorloth, Griezmann and Julián, but there the blanket begins to be a little bit looser,” he concluded.