MADRID, 6 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The coach of Atlético de Madrid, Diego Pablo Simeone, has assured that he sees Group E of the Champions League as “very even”, in which he believes that “points will be taken away from each other” and in which those who have “the greatest consistency”, and he hopes that the team will be “up to the task” this Tuesday against Celtic, a rival that has “good starts” and “courage” to generate football.
“I see a very even group, the results show it. Celtic deserved more in the games with Feyenoord and Lazio. From here to the end we will surely end up getting points from each other. Whoever has the greatest consistency will reach the goal, which is to go to the round of 16,” he declared at a press conference.
Furthermore, he invited them to face the duel against the Scots “with the intention that it deserves.” “Surely, in our stadium, we will have great support from our people, and that always invites us to have that extra. We are going to face an opponent that always has good starts and we hope to be able to live up to what the game demands” , he indicated.
In this sense, the Argentine coach acknowledged his admiration for his rival this Tuesday. “I have always declared my respect for Celtic, since I had to start talking about them and I continue to maintain it. They play a football that I like and have a lot of courage to generate it,” he stressed.
On the other hand, he is convinced that Celtic will repeat their brilliant start from Glasgow (2-2). “I think they are going to play in the same way, they did it in the Feyenoord field exactly the same. They have maintained the same spirit of play in all the games because they execute it in a good way. I can’t imagine anything other than the start they had at home,” he said.
“The opponent takes up a lot of your time to resolve, and in that lack of time to think they have a very good pressure in the opponent’s field. In the first half, beyond not having entered the game well, we had not done badly; In the second half we improved, we took a step forward to have people occupying the area. The goal arrived, one more goal could have been scored, but it was a fairly even game that later, with the expulsion, ended up breaking down on the side of the Celtic. I have no doubt that it is going to be a tough and difficult game,” he analyzed.
In another order of things, ‘Cholo’ believes that Friday’s defeat against UD Las Palmas will not affect them. “We had four days of recovery for the next game. It is an extraordinary game that we will have to play tomorrow, there will be a lot of people in our stadium. The team has the hope of having a great game. We must correct what happened against Celtic, leaving behind what happened with Las Palmas, and focus on this moment in which we have to play,” he explained.
Of course, he insisted on the importance of not fitting in too soon. “All the teams seek to leave the goal at zero. In almost all ‘Champions’ matches there are goals, all the teams have good footballers and good game dynamics. Our strength has always been to start from that situation of having the goal at zero and from there, grow as a team. We will not change. We must continue trying to spend as much time as possible in this way so that the team can take the game to where it can hurt an opponent who plays very well,” he said.
Finally, Simeone did not want to talk about his possible renewal with Atlético. “Celtic,” he said bluntly, before explaining what would be the perfect gift from him to the mattress club. “I always speak for myself, not for others, and my only goal is to give my best from the day I arrive until the day I leave,” he concluded.
2023-11-06 12:57:33
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