Quique S. Flores: “We’re going to make a big effort in the return leg”
“We made mistakes that cost us on the goals”
The manager of Atlético de Madrid, Quique Sánchez Flores, appeared before the press after the loss suffered at the Santiago Bernabéu. The head coach from Madrid assured that “we knew that we were facing a great squad. We grouped together and wanted to play as well as possible during the match. Luck wasn’t on our side and there were specific details that cost us the goals. The team was coming off a difficult loss and we knew that it was going to be tough.”
In a strictly footballing assessment of his players, he acknowledged that “we defended on three-quarters of the pitch in the opening fifteen minutes, but then we lost the ball and the team was unable to get out of its half. We also played back in the second half, but we closed down the spaces better and they didn’t create as many chances. It’s also true that we were lacking more possession and needed to create more chances that would have come with greater possession of the ball, but the team was coming off a complicated situation.
“If the match had finished 2-1 we’d have a greater possibility of coming back in the qualifying tie. I think that we made things very easy for our rivals on certain plays. In many ways this game reminded me of the match we played against them in La Liga,” he commented.
Quique didn’t want to go into great detail about the officiating, but did state that “I think he’s a good referee, but there were many details that reminded me of our league match. In any case, I liked this Real Madrid a lot more; you can tell that they’re really improving.”
Quique S. Flores also spoke about the debut of Juanfran, pointing out that “a lot was demanded of him because the team was having a rough go of it on the pitch. He’ll have more comfortable matches. He played the match that he had to play.”
“We didn’t throw the qualifying round away. We have to get back our players, but not just for the return leg; we have a league fixture on Monday and we have to put ourselves back together. We have to look for the resources necessary to move forward. We’re going to make the greatest effort we can to win the match at the Vicente Calderón,” he finished.
In a strictly footballing assessment of his players, he acknowledged that “we defended on three-quarters of the pitch in the opening fifteen minutes, but then we lost the ball and the team was unable to get out of its half. We also played back in the second half, but we closed down the spaces better and they didn’t create as many chances. It’s also true that we were lacking more possession and needed to create more chances that would have come with greater possession of the ball, but the team was coming off a complicated situation.
“If the match had finished 2-1 we’d have a greater possibility of coming back in the qualifying tie. I think that we made things very easy for our rivals on certain plays. In many ways this game reminded me of the match we played against them in La Liga,” he commented.
Quique didn’t want to go into great detail about the officiating, but did state that “I think he’s a good referee, but there were many details that reminded me of our league match. In any case, I liked this Real Madrid a lot more; you can tell that they’re really improving.”
Quique S. Flores also spoke about the debut of Juanfran, pointing out that “a lot was demanded of him because the team was having a rough go of it on the pitch. He’ll have more comfortable matches. He played the match that he had to play.”
“We didn’t throw the qualifying round away. We have to get back our players, but not just for the return leg; we have a league fixture on Monday and we have to put ourselves back together. We have to look for the resources necessary to move forward. We’re going to make the greatest effort we can to win the match at the Vicente Calderón,” he finished.