MADRID, 8 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The coach of Atlético de Madrid, Diego Pablo Simeone, spoke after the victory at home against Girona in a game that seemed controlled but that got complicated in the final minutes, and confessed that “there are times when you have to win, and Today we had to win.”
“There are moments that have to be won, and today we had to win. Up until the 60th or 70th minute we played it the way we wanted to play it, in the end it wasn’t what we expected and obviously after winning, we have to try to correct it,” said the Argentine in the subsequent press conference.
The ‘Cholo’ assured that his players “want to do well” and that “they are giving everything they have to compete and be in the two competitions”, despite the hesitant start to the season, “competing in the best way”. “We have a very tough game ahead of us on Wednesday and we need the people and all the players,” he assured.
The coach commented that in the first half they dominated “both situations, sometimes pressing a little higher” and others “defending lower”, although he stressed that “the rival plays and makes you go back or have to do it well”.
“When you are winning 2-0, it often happens, like today, that the game was under control and that goal appears, which takes you a little out of the expected situation until then. The 2-1 comes, you start to think more about ending the match than in playing it, because you have almost won the match, but not won”, he said.
Simeone explained that it is then that “anxiety, nerves, haste and imprecision” appear, and that “it leads you to get together more for a protection issue” and that, “by not solving it, it generates that feeling of panic “.
In those difficult moments, Simeone wanted to thank “the support of the people”, which he described as “impressive”. “He pushed us at the moment we needed him most, in those final 20 minutes when the team couldn’t take advantage of any counterattack or any associative play to close out a game that was well on its way,” he said.
For ‘Cholo’, the fans were “decisive at the end of the game”, and he sees it as important that “they are back on Wednesday”. “We are making an important effort, putting all the enthusiasm and all the desire as a team to do better, and with the help of the people we will surely have one more point to play”, he declared.
“We continually worry about what is happening to the team, what we have to improve, we understand that many times we should do better certain situations in the game, but we are trying to give the maximum of the team for the good of the game,” explained the Argentine.
Simeone also spoke about Ángel Correa, who scored the two goals for Atlético and who has the coaching staff “very happy” because “he is all heart”. “Many times he has not been at the beginning, but in all the years that he has been in the club, if one goes to his numbers, he has always played,” he valued.
The technician stressed that Correa gets this “for merit, for being revulsive, for getting angry and showing when he is angry outside.” “That gives him more possibilities to play in a team that is all about passion, demand, that we ourselves have very high demands, and when the demands are very high, nothing is achieved,” he concluded.