Simeone: “It's a direct match, but there's still a lot of league left”

Diego Pablo Simeone addressed the media in the pre-derby against Real Madrid, a key game for LaLiga. Atlético surpasses the white team by five points in the table and with a less disputed game.

Is it a derby worth more than three points?

It is a very beautiful championship and all the important teams are looking for the best places in the classification. It is a match at the top of the table, a direct match between two teams that fight for similar situations, but it is three points. There will still be a lot of the League ahead and we will try to take the game where we think we can do damage.

What does João bring him and what does Correa bring him together with Suárez?

We train in both ways, tomorrow we will decide how we start the game. João and Ángel have different characteristics, Ángel gives us a more dynamic work in the collective work of the team with much more vertigo in his game and João a special talent that can get something that nobody else can have and from the part of the number of goals they João's are very good. The competition is very good, very healthy, very beautiful. The two will play, one will start and another will have to wait, but surely both will play.

How have you seen Suárez when it comes to stretching the team when they have played further back?

According to the game you want to value. Against Sevilla we played low and they did very well, we won the match, against Real Sociedad they played an extraordinary match and they won the match. Against Chelsea, which is perhaps where you refer the most, we couldn't win in a game where little had happened. It not only depends on Suárez, but on what you do when you have the ball. It is one thing to start low and another not to be able to hold the ball when you have it to play in the rival field, something that did happen against Sevilla and Real Sociedad.

Do you think about how to neutralize the rival center of the field?

We usually do it against all rivals in the same way, seeking the balance to nullify the rival's virtues and enhance ours based on what we believe in the game, tomorrow will not be the exception.

Who is playing more tomorrow?

We think of ourselves, we don't know what they think. We played a lot, but also on Wednesday and the previous game against Villarreal, since I arrived at Atlético all the games are vital. What do we have to generate to win again? Have forcefulness, balance, play a great game …

How is Trippier doing after so long without being able to compete?

He has always trained, he really wants to play. Imagine a footballer who does not come playing and training every day, it is football, but always internally with us. He really wants to play, it is very important to us, he has quality, precision, hierarchy and he places a lot of value on possession of the ball in attack. From his position he gives us the power to attack doing damage in the deep and also from his associative pass.

How do you see João Félix?

I see João very well, like the whole group and the whole team. The team is in an extraordinary moment, a very beautiful moment, where we are fighting important things, playing very important games, which is what the footballer wants and is preparing for. Tomorrow we will have 18 outfield players plus goalkeepers and some will start, but all will play.

Are you looking to change the formation to have superiority in the middle or maintain the line of three centrals?

We are analyzing it, training in both ways on Wednesday and Thursday and tomorrow we will decide with the players according to what we believe for the game and they will see it on the field.

If they manage to win, they will drive away Real Madrid a lot.

I go to the numbers and I see that in the fight for the Europa League ten or twelve games ago they had eliminated Betis from the list and now they are competing very well, ten games ago we talked about a huge distance and a championship that was not good at the Real Madrid and Barcelona and today you can see how Barcelona are competing especially in the League and Cup and Real Madrid also in the Champions League. There is no need to hurry, they are very good teams, there is no team that plays badly and all the games are complicated. We must follow a path that we know.

Saúl was very important in the first leg.

Saúl is always important to us. A boy who has been with us the longest, who knows what we want and need. He is responding very well in the last games on the wing or inside and we need him. How many minutes? Five, ten, ninety, one hundred and twenty … whatever the party asks of us.