Simeone: "We won a very important victory on a difficult field"

Atlético’s coach said after the match, "I think we played a very good match, especially from the interpretation and the voracity with which we started the game. We had very clear where to attack, we wanted to always have Griezmann where the field was good so that he could hurt with his speed and his one-on-one. And we also decided to have as little people as possible where the ball was not circulating. They could have got into the game with a very good save by Moya at the end of the first half because the second half would not have been the same. I think we controlled the second half very well and we won a very important victory on a difficult field and on an afternoon in which it was very difficult to play."

He noted Griezmann’s good match because "he did a job from less to more and it would be unfair to assess all the effort he made to be at the moment in which he is now. We talk and work a lot with him. What he’s giving us today is what we need for the players of Atlético de Madrid. It’s difficult to play here only with talent. Here you need talent plus effort. And that is how we can compete against the best. We try to go for that, he has it and he’s a key player for us.”

He finished pointing out that "for me, today must be one of Mandžukić’s best matches since he arrived for the quality, effort and for the goals." Very complete. He had a lot of mobility, he was at ease. The other day, Fernando played an extraordinary match against Barcelona and we understood that Jiménez, according to how the field was, was best for him and that was why we counted with Raúl instead of with Fernando, so we could have a better circulation of the ball."