Simeone: " We need to keep doing the same things"

Diego Pablo Simeone appeared at a press conference before his team trained behind closed doors at the Vicente Calderon Stadium to prepare for the game against Osasuna. The Atletico coach noted that "the challenge is new this year due to the demand that is the Champions League. That’s no saying that the Europa League isn’t demand, but the opponents we faces in the Champions League are better than those of the Europa League. That makes every game you play during the week a hard one which makes the job of the doctors, physios and coaches busier."

With regard to upcoming game, Simeone continues with the same idea of going game by game. The technician said that "there is no reason to leave the line we are on. The team knows that the effort made in Valladolid winning away from home was a big effort, now we have to pick up a home win in an important game. This will put a lot of value on the result. The way forward is to continue growing, going in the best line we can, we’ll see how the players recover and choose those who can be competitive as we look to win the game.”

Osasuna is a team that started the league losing the first four games but won the last game against Elche. Simeone is wary of the opponent and says that "it is a team that in the last two games has started winning. Obviously when a new coach arrives he gives chance to players who may have not played so many minutes. It is a squad that has difficulties with injuries but I imagine that the result last week will have lifted them."

On whether the fans can influence the game or not, it is clear that Cholo notes that "tomorrow there will be a lot of people in the stands. The team has just won several games in a row. If I put myself in the situation of an Atletico Madrid fan what better time to go to see the team. It’s expensive to go to the Bernabeu so it’s better to come tomorrow."