Simeone: "I appreciate the work of the boys, it is massive"

Diego Pablo Simeone praised the performance of Atletico striker Diego Costa, who was a doubt until late with a sore ankle, and ended the match being the best player with two goals . "The truth is that he was a bit hurt after Saturday's game. The medical team and physios did a very good and we expected him to be ok. He did some tests in the morning at the hotel to see how it felt, the doctors gave him the all clear and he really put in a huge performance, working for the team," he said.

The Argentine explained the decision to play Raul Garcia from the start and the decision to play with a lone striker against Austria Vienna. "The coach has a choice that is based on every day with the players. We are with them every day, we know quite well the characteristics of each one and realized it was a very good match for the characteristics of Raul, who came from second line very well and he had a fantastic game, his performance was extraordinary."

Simeone reiterated that every game is different and not all players can participate in every game despite the great work they do every week in training. "We can not play 21, you have to play 10 and the coach has to find the best combination, and that's what we do, find the best variants for each game."

Finally, the Atletico coach wanted to congratulate his players for the great effort they are putting in this season. The motivation, delivery, collective sacrifice and the commitment of all the players is the most positive that Diego Pablo Simeone takes from every game. "I really appreciate and value the work the guys are doing, it is great. They are putting in a lot of effort, a lot of commitment and a lot of teamwork and that allows us to be competitive and we're a tough team." he concluded.