The Atlético de Madrid coach, Diego Simeone, rejected any favoritism and recalled that on Thursday, in the Champions League quarter-finals against Leipzig, «Winning is the only thing there is» to be able to continue towards the title.
«Tomorrow you have to understand that it is not important to win, but that it is the only thing there is“Simeone said at the press conference prior to Thursday’s meeting in Lisbon.
“Tomorrow we are going to play a very important game against a team that plays very well, with a young coach who is doing a fantastic job, it is a great team and the numbers show it,” said Simeone, recalling that the German team finished third in their championship.
Faced with those who see Atlético as one of the favorites to win the Champions League this year, Simeone insisted that he does not think about anything other than Thursday’s game. “It is not important to win but it is the only thing to be able to continue in this competition, everything that can happen from Thursday night will depend on the result and we try to prepare the game accordingly,” he said.
Casualties of Vrsaljko and Correa
The mattress coach insisted that he is “busy preparing the game in the best way, so that the players arrive with clarity to take the game where we want to do damage.” Simeone added that he is “with the illusion of any coach who participates in a competition as beautiful as the Champions League.”
The rojiblanco coach regretted, however, not being able to count on for the match Sime Vrsaljko and Ángel Correa, who stayed in Madrid after testing positive for coronavirus. “Not having Sime with us, a boy who has made a lot of effort to recover from his injury, hurts,” he said. “And Angelito is all heart, a very important player for us, I mean that we had two very important men from the heart in the team, hopefully we can have them in the walk if we continue in the competition,” he wished.
Simeone added that the round of 16 tie, in which he got off Liverpool, was left behind, that now a new path begins. “The only thing that concerns us is tomorrow’s game knowing that the rival is good, that he has a great coach and that the competition is going to be beautiful,” he remarked.
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