To begin, Simeone reviewed the match. “I believe the first half had a couple of situations to better accommodate the game, afterwards, we weren’t precise with our combinations. The team didn’t suffer because the rival imposed a game to counterattack and the defence worked well in this regard. In the second half, the entrance of Sosa and Diego gave speed to the connection between midfielders and forwards. I believe that further than one-nil, the team deserved to win the match”, he said.

Even though they are leaders, the Atlético coach wanted to make it clear that there is still a lot to play and that “each match becomes long, hard and difficult. The guys are making an incredible and marvellous effort. The season is enormous but it will be valued by how it ends. With eight games to go, the advantage is for those who have more resources. If we get to the final four or five rounds like this, we’ll liven up a bit”, he assured

The coach from Buenos Aires explained the entrance of Cristian Rodríguez in the initial eleven. “Insua is more defensive in his game than Filipe, therefore we place Cristian Rodríguez to be more productive, because with Juanfran on the right, we are. Cristian is a guy with fresh legs, energy and he delivered what we needed”.

Tis way of working, keeping a solid base within the group, is vital to compete “match-by-match”. “I value the effort, first from the Club, of having kept a line of work; it’s not chance, it’s causality. We have worked very well keeping a solid base. A group of players have wanted to improve and grow, knowing their faults and strengthening their virtues. This shows us that believing in what one does and working little by little, humbly, we can compete. Real Madrid and Barcelona will fight till the end because they have more than enough arguments to get to the final in the best possible way”, he pointed out.

Before finishing, Diego Pablo admitted, “when a team isn’t precise, it can’t properly settle in the game”. The way to keep going in this same line of work is to “look at our work, beyond this moment we’re at, I always told the players that we depend on what we do. It will be so until the end, both in the good and the bad things to come”, he concluded.