Gil Marín does not usually approach the Cerro del Espino facilities many times during the season. He does it rarely and only when the occasion calls for it. Today has been one of them. Atlético’s CEO met with the squad before the start of the rojiblanco team’s training session and had a talk with the members of the rojiblanco team.
Gil Marín assured that Atlético’s expectations were different at the beginning of the season than they are now and the group must become stronger to get a place in the next Champions League: “We have to win this League of five teams”, the manager of Atlético told the players. In the coaching staff they understand that Real Madrid and Sevilla are above the rest and they know that Atlético will have to fight with Betis, Barcelona, Real Sociedad and Villarreal for a place in the Champions League.
The CEO of Atlético expressed his confidence in the entire group: “It’s a 14-game League, I trust the whole group and we have a better team than the rest of the five teams. But we have to prove it“, Gil Marín told them. The manager said that no one has to think more than tomorrow’s match against Osasuna, the first of the rojiblanco team’s finals in LaLiga.
At Atlético they know that it is not the first time they have been in a complicated situation and the example is two years ago when the competition was interrupted by the pandemic. Atlético was also out of Champions positions. He reacted and achieved his great goal: “You don’t have to think about anything else or in another way. 14 games to win that particular League”he stated.
From the club, in turn, they insist again on trust in Simeone. Cholo has the full confidence of both Cerezo and Gil Marín and from Atlético they comment that he has not contacted anyone as a possible substitute. From now on, many names will appear as future prospects for the rojiblanco bench, but Gil Marín is clear: Simeone is the right person to place Atlético in the top four.
Statement by Miguel Angel Gil
Minutes after this visit to the squad at Cerro del Espino, the CEO released a statement through the club’s website in which he explained the new reality of the team (“We are in a different scenario than the one we imagined”), the Confidence in the squad and coaching staff and the need to push hard in search of goals.
Defeat against Levante: “It is clear that it has been an unexpected stumbling block, but we cannot dwell on regrets but rather we must focus on reversing this situation as soon as possible and the first opportunity is against Osasuna. I fully trust our squad and our coaching staff, together we will take this challenge forward ”.
New objective: “We are in a different scenario than the one we imagined at the beginning of the season. We are the current champions and we reinforce the squad with several high-level additions, but the situation has changed and we must be realistic and focus on the primary objective of the club, which can be no other than to qualify among the top four. Tomorrow a new league begins for us, a league of 14 games in just 12 weeks. It is also a league that two teams win and Atlético de Madrid must be one of them”.
Mood: “Don’t worry, I trust our players and coaches a lot. It’s normal for the fans to be uneasy because they see that things don’t turn out as we all expected, but right now we have the obligation to keep a cool head and calmly analyze the team’s situation. It is not the first time that we have experienced a similar situation with this group. We also live it after confinement, eleven games in eight weeks. We started it sixth and finished it third.”
“There are very important challenges ahead and a very nice Champions League tie against Manchester United that we face with great enthusiasm”.