MADRID, 14 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The coach of Atlético de Madrid, Diego Pablo Simeone, assured this Wednesday that “health comes first”, alluding to the dosage of minutes he made with respect to Antoine Griezmann during their match against SS Lazio, corresponding to matchday 6 in the Group E of the Champions League.
“It's not an excuse, it's a reality,” said the 'Cholo' at a press conference from the Cívitas Metropolitano, having recalled the accumulation of matches for his squad this December. “First is health. And there are some who need to be taken care of a little because, obviously, we cannot squeeze them in the way the entire system makes us squeeze them,” he responded about Griezmann.
“Beyond the fact that no one cares who plays or who doesn't play, the important thing for all of you is obviously always that the team wins. If not, you would criticize why this one doesn't play, why the other one comes out or why he came out earlier. .. but hey, that's how it is,” he resigned after having beaten Lazio 2-0 with a goal precisely from Griezmann.
“We have finished this first half in an important place, no more than this. But with the joy of seeing that the team has taken one more step with respect to what it had been doing, as you reflected every day; in all the games I heard: 'Atlético in the last few seasons did not do well.' Well, this time we did well,” Simeone added in front of the journalists.
“We have improved the pace of the game, we have improved the pressure dynamics, above all, and I think that in all the games we have had to play until today we have been better than the rivals. Now another stage begins, it will be with the draw and another new team, difficult for sure; complex like any of the ones we could face, and we will have to face it for what it is: a tie and knowing that there is no margin for anything,” the mattress coach warned.
On the other hand, he praised Samu Lino, scorer of the second goal against the Romans. “The competition is very good for the team, the demand for more games like the one Lino played today because he has it, and more goals because he has to score goals. In the same way that we demand of Riquelme, in the same way that we need goals from midfielders like Saúl, Llorente, Rodrigo [De Paul]Molina…”, he reflected.
“Players who have to give the team, beyond their game, goals; because we have dangerous situations, with records so that they can score, and I hope they can maintain that competition that is going to make us all better,” he said. regarding the fight in the left lane between the aforementioned Lino and Rodrigo Riquelme.
Finally, the red and white coach summarized the victory over Lazio. “We have been lucky enough to have, on the first ball that the team has generated, a goal in the first action. It is true that in the first half Lazio closed us down, it did not allow us to have faster transitions to attack inside the area “he highlighted.
“But in the second half we did play, we managed to hurt them through the lanes, with Lino and Molina we put them in difficulty, then the second goal came and it is clear that the game went in another direction,” concluded Simeone in the Press room.