José Juan Almeyda left pleased with the attitude shown by his players on the pitch and didn’t hesitate to admit that “we were different than in the first match. The lads gave another image and offered another form of playing different from the one from 15 days ago. I’ll remember their attitude. Atlético de Madrid respected us in the first leg, as they went to play with all of their important players, and that’s worthy of admiration on the part of their manager. The ‘rojiblanco’ team is in good form and hopefully they can stay hot for a long time.”

The head coach of the visiting squad explained that “it was a more physical match than the first leg, but that wasn’t our intention. If we had wanted to play that way, this clash would have been played in our stadium. We don’t play like that at home and we didn’t mean to do it at the Vicente Calderón.

“I feel happier with my team than 15 days ago, but the Copa del Rey isn’t our competition. We have a very important game this Sunday and we want to get some of our players back, as many of them are injured,” José Juan Almeyda wrapped up.