Simeone: "The team has responded very well to a very difficult Champions"
The coach remembered the work his players have done and the encouragement of the fans in the final and during all the moments of the season.
Diego Pablo Simeone said after the final that it was a "hard match, most of all because of the result. We started the first time poorly, we were not in the game in the first 20 minutes as we would have liked. Then we improved and in the second half we could not use the chance of the penalty to equalize. I give great value to the team reinventing itself again after the failed penalty kick and we kept insisting until we scored the goal. In the extra-time, we were well positioned but neither team had clear scoring situations."
He went on pointing out that, "We have to congratulate the opponent because they are the righteous champion. When penalties are shot and you can’t convert them, you have to congratulate the opponent and heal the wounds at home."
Regarding what he would say to the fans, he said, "I'm very sad for not being able to respond to them as they expected me to, to give them this long-awaited Champions title. We have had the possibility of reaching a Champions League final twice in three years. Coming second is a failure because I do not think that just reaching the final is something fantastic. We must thank the fans for all the effort they have made, they have filled the stadium, paid expensive tickets, always been with us... The players proved to do an exemplary job and an impressive way to love the Club. You saw how much Koke, Gabi, Godín or Saúl ran... The truth is that the team has responded very well to a very difficult Champions because we had to play against Bayern, Barcelona, and Real Madrid. And that makes you think. How am I not going to think, when I reached two finals, didn’t lose either in the 90 minutes, and won none? You have to think."
