Simeone: "We had a great game, I'm proud of the entire squad"
Diego Pablo Simeone spoke in the press conference and praised the performance of his team in the icy atmosphere of St. Petersburg. The coach reiterated once again that his players always come to give maximum effort.
Simeone appeared before the media in the press room after the valuable draw against Zenit in Russia. The Atletico coach admitted he was "proud" of all the players that made the team. "I'm very friendly with everyone and always interpret it in the best way. We played a great game. We have been working together two years and I'm happy for them because they do a great job. Insua was huge, Toby had a great game, once again, Guilavogui is progressing well, Adrian has a great presence and Cristian Rodriguez responded with what he always gives us and we need. I speak of them and can also talk of the work of the regulars like Raúl, Gabi, Koke and Miranda. I am proud of the squad and very happy for them because they have worked hard to have these good times and this serves as much to the team," he said.
Simeone said "we did a very strong defensive job." "We knew of the offensive strengths that Zenit have with great players especially in midfield. They are very good at passing through the middle, so we wanted to cut this out. We tried to let them go because they attack the sides differently and that restricted their spaces. We tried to play with Raul to give more fight down in the center and leaving Adrián and Rodríguez freer without a clear reference up top, giving them the opportunity to exploit the spaces with their speed. Adrian got a goal and then had another great chance. Zenit is a great team and have great chances to qualify yet," he said.
To Simeone football is a beautiful sport because of the different situations that can be created at any time. Zenit's goal came as misfortune when Alderweireld put the ball in our goal. "The goal starts with a ball that was going out and well, it's football and is sometimes decided on these situations and errors. In short it is football," he said.
The Argentine coach concluded by showing that for his squad all games are the same, be it a friendly, Champions League or the League. "Since we got here, we play a friendly and play a Champions League match in the same way. The attitude, hunger and obligation to defend this shirt is always the same." he concluded.
