The Atlético players lament the Cup elimination and will now focus on La Liga
They highlighted that the goal continues to be to qualify for Champions League
Atlético de Madrid players Fran Mérida and Filipe Luis appeared disappointed after being eliminated from the Copa del Rey. But both of them agreed that the team has to continue to fight for its goal of finishing amongst the top four in La Liga.
Fran Mérida assured that the team was very excited about the possibility of a comeback that never came. “The goal hurt us but the team continued forward and showed face. We tried our best and it’s a pity because we’re leaving upset. We were excited about playing a good game and having the chance to beat them; we tried but they attacked a couple of times and scored the goal that killed us off. The squad feels good because we had chances and had more attacks than they did,” he stated.
On the other hand, the central midfielder didn’t want to forget about the objective that Atlético still has in mind. “Now we’re left with La Liga and we have a clear goal that we have to pursue. This isn’t over. There’s an entire half of league play left and we’re going to fight hard to try and make it to Champions spots. We have to forget about this as quickly as possible,” he commented.
Filipe Luis wanted to “thank the effort of our supporters, because the atmosphere was spectacular.' Concerning the match itself, the Brazilian stated that although they tried to fight back, it wasn’t meant to be and now the league is the most important thing. “We tried to go for the match with the support of our fans. We knew that it was going to be tough and the goal made it even more difficult. The team fought and left it all out on the pitch; getting knocked out like that really hurts, but now we have to keep working to finish in the top four of La Liga,” he emphasized.
“Qualifying for Champions League is our goal. We can’t have any more slip-ups and have to play each match as if it were a final. We know that it’s going to be complicated because there are many teams in the battle, but we have the quality to do so and we only depend on ourselves. We have to try to win as many games as we can, especially those against our direct rivals,” he concluded.
Fran Mérida assured that the team was very excited about the possibility of a comeback that never came. “The goal hurt us but the team continued forward and showed face. We tried our best and it’s a pity because we’re leaving upset. We were excited about playing a good game and having the chance to beat them; we tried but they attacked a couple of times and scored the goal that killed us off. The squad feels good because we had chances and had more attacks than they did,” he stated.
On the other hand, the central midfielder didn’t want to forget about the objective that Atlético still has in mind. “Now we’re left with La Liga and we have a clear goal that we have to pursue. This isn’t over. There’s an entire half of league play left and we’re going to fight hard to try and make it to Champions spots. We have to forget about this as quickly as possible,” he commented.
Filipe Luis wanted to “thank the effort of our supporters, because the atmosphere was spectacular.' Concerning the match itself, the Brazilian stated that although they tried to fight back, it wasn’t meant to be and now the league is the most important thing. “We tried to go for the match with the support of our fans. We knew that it was going to be tough and the goal made it even more difficult. The team fought and left it all out on the pitch; getting knocked out like that really hurts, but now we have to keep working to finish in the top four of La Liga,” he emphasized.
“Qualifying for Champions League is our goal. We can’t have any more slip-ups and have to play each match as if it were a final. We know that it’s going to be complicated because there are many teams in the battle, but we have the quality to do so and we only depend on ourselves. We have to try to win as many games as we can, especially those against our direct rivals,” he concluded.