MADRID, 5 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The coach of Atlético de Madrid, Diego Pablo Simeone, has assured that after “the mourning” of being eliminated from European competitions they must “assume and see reality” to focus on LaLiga Santander, in which this Sunday they host RCD Espanyol, and He explained that as a “family” that they are, it is “the moment to be all together”.
“This is like a family; in the family we usually have differences with a cousin during the year, fights with your wife, changes of opinion with your brothers… but when there is a problem there is a meeting and everyone gets together. Talking and feeling Nearby explains why it is called family, and we are. As we are a family, it is time to be all together, “he declared at a press conference.
Regarding the continental debacle, he assured that he is “the first person responsible” for what happened, and that now it is up to him “to take the emotional part to the best place.” “I must demand more of myself -from the fans-, give them more, because I was never going to ask for absolutely anything. I understand, with my way of living, and with the fact that you have to give more, the whole group, because people want to win, see a show We have to give for this to happen,” he said.
“We have mourned the day after, because if things don’t hurt, it’s not right. You have to be wrong when things don’t work out. But life goes on and the sun rises again in the morning, and I hope that we have a good day tomorrow”, he said, before talking about the game against Porto. “It wasn’t us. From the start of the game we couldn’t represent the game we wanted and the hierarchy that this team has. It happened, we have to accept it and see reality, and go, more than ever, game by game,” he continued.
On the other hand, regarding Espanyol, he affirmed that it is a team “that competes well” and recalled that “their latest results were short.” “He has a great coach who manages the teams very well, he did very well during his time in Granada, and he is looking for his best version at Espanyol. It is a team that is going to play second ball, that is going to play almost certainly 5- 3-2, inviting us to make mistakes and get nervous and anxious, let the minutes tick by. We will have to understand all this to play the game we want to play,” he said.
In addition, he confirmed that both Marcos Llorente and the Frenchman Thomas Lemar will be available on Sunday to “lend a hand” to the team, while Koke is not yet. “They had a fantastic season together, when everyone criticized me because Koke played as a midfielder, which I haven’t forgotten. We managed to live with that situation and win LaLiga, with Koke as a midfielder”, he recalled.
“Koke is very important for the team, as is Lemar, because they have a different game than the other midfielders. Marcos is also a forward midfielder; the year we won LaLiga he had his best season and he is an important player for the team,” he added. .
Nor did he doubt that his players are focused on LaLiga Santander despite the proximity of the World Cup. “If I were a footballer, I have no doubt that if I were just a few days before the start of the World Cup I would have great hope, because it is the best thing that can happen to a footballer. But at the moment when I was getting dressed to play with my team, I would not remember in every action of the game that I have a World Cup ahead of me; when you play, you play to win, when you compete you forget. We have a lot of competitive people who want to represent this with deeds, not with words”, he underlined.
However, he did not want to comment on the possibility that his physical trainer, ‘Profe’ Ortega, go to the World Cup with Uruguay. “I never gave a public opinion on the subject of ‘Profe’ and surely he and the club, when the due time comes, will report everything that happens and the reality that he is going to experience,” he said.