“Joao Félix? I am very respectful of footballers from other teams”
MADRID, 16 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The coach of Atlético de Madrid, Diego Pablo Simeone, has recognized that FC Barcelona, whom they will face this Sunday at the Cívitas Metropolitano, has done them “harm” in the last games and that they will seek to “hurt them”, and has stressed that Despite the euphoria over reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League, LaLiga “requires them to be very attentive.”
“LaLiga requires us to be very attentive. The championship is going to be complicated from here until the end, because Athletic is doing very well and Real Sociedad continues to improve after remaining in only one championship. We have to focus on tomorrow’s game, in a team that plays very well; we know him very well because he has hurt us in the last games. We hope to take the game to where we can hurt him,” he declared at a press conference.
Furthermore, it is “clear” that “it is not going to be the same match” as the first round in Montjuïc. “They have less wear and tear, a day before and without extra time. There will be a big effort that we will have to make to balance the intensity in the game and generate as we did the other day. We continue in this line, to continue winning more duels” , he pointed.
Regarding the presence or not of the Frenchman Antoine Griezmann in the match, the Argentine coach did not want to reveal anything. “Tomorrow at noon I will meet with him, I will ask him how he feels, and based on how he feels we will decide what is best for the team and for him,” he said.
He also praised Memphis’ work, not only as revulsive. “I think that in some game, when he came on from the start, he also did very well. He is a great footballer, we need him. He is having continuity; the injuries had kept him from having this continuity. We need what he did the other day when came in: coming in strong, aggressive, intense, with all that football that he has in his game and that winning mentality that he transmits,” he stressed.
In another vein, he spoke about Mario Hermoso’s injury and the possibility of Reinildo taking his place. “Mario suffered an injury in the last game and Reinildo is prepared; he has been training well, with great enthusiasm, and he is a boy who has always given everything for the team when it is his turn to play. We do not expect anything else if he gets the opportunity to do it,” he said.
He also spoke about Saúl Ñíguez’s statements ensuring that he was having a bad time. “It was an expression that needed to be transmitted on the networks so that people know what is happening to him. We trust him, we have made him play as a starter a lot of times. He has come on, being important and we trust the footballer,” he said. .
However, he did not comment on the situation of the now Barcelona player João Félix. “I am very respectful of footballers who play for other teams. I don’t normally think about any of them and this will not be the exception. We think about how our team is going to recover from the great effort they made the other day, from the great game they played. They played a “beautiful game that will remain in the memory, and from that effort that was made as a team, I hope tomorrow we can maintain it and play a great game,” he stated.
In another order of things, he highlighted the level they have on the bench. “We have always done it, we are one of the teams in which footballers enter the best in LaLiga. Every time this happens, the team takes advantage. We trust the group, to compete as we are competing in the three competitions, until the match of the semifinals against Athletic, we need everyone. They know it and I hope that when it happens again on Sunday these situations will occur again,” he expressed.
Finally, the ‘Cholo’ valued the draw for the quarter-finals of the ‘Champions’, which paired them with Borussia Dortmund. “We have a tough team, the German teams have always been strong. We know very well the atmosphere that will await us in the second leg, we need to play a good game in the first leg. They are a tough, difficult rival, who will make the season Last year they were fighting in the league very well. This year they are more or less like us in the table. German teams have historically been very tough and we don’t expect anything else,” he concluded.