The ‘rojiblanco’ players lament the loss, but haven’t lost hope
Agüero: “It’s a very painful loss but all’s not lost”
The Atlético de Madrid players didn’t make excuses for the loss. Kun Agüero, Antonio López and Mario Suárez agreed that they have to do what they need to in Leverkusen, which is to win, and hope for a favourable result in the other match.
Sergio Agüero was upset during his appearance before the media in the mixed zone, but he still feels a glimmer of hope to move forward in the Europa League. “It was a very painful loss. We have to move on and lift our heads because this doesn’t stop here. We have to hope for a favourable result in the Aris-Rosenborg match and try to win ourselves. A draw or loss for Aris would send us into the round of 16 if we win. The bad thing is that we have to hope for a result, but that’s football and anything can happen. We lost a chance because if we’d won we knew that we’d be able to go to Leverkusen and play relaxed. I think it’s tough because Aris is very strong at home and it’s going to be complicated, but hopefully God wants Rosenborg to lend us a hand. All’s not lost yet, the only thing is that we have to hope for a good result and see what happens. If we get knocked out, it will be bad luck, but that’s football, sometimes you win and others you lose, and today it was our turn to lose and be on the edge of elimination. But we have to move forward, there’s nothing else we can do. I’m in my fifth year here and I’ve seen many things, but right now the defence and the midfield are very strong. The only thing that I can do is help the team and score goals. If Rosenborg lends us a hand I think it would be huge and perhaps we, head-to-head, competing in the direct elimination stages, can go far.”
Mario Suárez was one of the other players who spoke to the press. “The truth is that when we went into halftime the match looked differently because the team was playing really well and we had control of the match, dominating, but it happened to us again, we conceded 3 goals at home, which is something that can’t happen. We’ve now given up 6 goals in the last two matches at home. Those are things we have to correct and can’t let happen again. I don’t know why they’re scoring goals on us now but the same thing from the other day occurred, we lost on a penalty and two very strange goals and we’re really annoyed. We wanted to win here but we’ll go to Germany to win and play as best we can and wait. The worst thing about football is depending on other teams. It’s going to be tough but we know what we have to do.”
Antonio López, one of the squad captains, appeared bothered by the defeat that nobody expected. “The dressing room is hurt because we didn’t even consider not beating Aris. We had high hopes for this match to mathematically qualify for the next round, but that didn’t happen. They began by scoring very early and we pulled ourselves together, but then they fought back on two separate plays and we couldn’t score another. Aris didn’t have clear scoring chances, they attacked three or four times and scored three goals on us. It was a series of bad luck and mistakes. The case is that we’re leaving with a loss that we never expected and it’s a pity. Now we have to win and wait,” he explained.
Sergio Agüero was upset during his appearance before the media in the mixed zone, but he still feels a glimmer of hope to move forward in the Europa League. “It was a very painful loss. We have to move on and lift our heads because this doesn’t stop here. We have to hope for a favourable result in the Aris-Rosenborg match and try to win ourselves. A draw or loss for Aris would send us into the round of 16 if we win. The bad thing is that we have to hope for a result, but that’s football and anything can happen. We lost a chance because if we’d won we knew that we’d be able to go to Leverkusen and play relaxed. I think it’s tough because Aris is very strong at home and it’s going to be complicated, but hopefully God wants Rosenborg to lend us a hand. All’s not lost yet, the only thing is that we have to hope for a good result and see what happens. If we get knocked out, it will be bad luck, but that’s football, sometimes you win and others you lose, and today it was our turn to lose and be on the edge of elimination. But we have to move forward, there’s nothing else we can do. I’m in my fifth year here and I’ve seen many things, but right now the defence and the midfield are very strong. The only thing that I can do is help the team and score goals. If Rosenborg lends us a hand I think it would be huge and perhaps we, head-to-head, competing in the direct elimination stages, can go far.”
Mario Suárez was one of the other players who spoke to the press. “The truth is that when we went into halftime the match looked differently because the team was playing really well and we had control of the match, dominating, but it happened to us again, we conceded 3 goals at home, which is something that can’t happen. We’ve now given up 6 goals in the last two matches at home. Those are things we have to correct and can’t let happen again. I don’t know why they’re scoring goals on us now but the same thing from the other day occurred, we lost on a penalty and two very strange goals and we’re really annoyed. We wanted to win here but we’ll go to Germany to win and play as best we can and wait. The worst thing about football is depending on other teams. It’s going to be tough but we know what we have to do.”
Antonio López, one of the squad captains, appeared bothered by the defeat that nobody expected. “The dressing room is hurt because we didn’t even consider not beating Aris. We had high hopes for this match to mathematically qualify for the next round, but that didn’t happen. They began by scoring very early and we pulled ourselves together, but then they fought back on two separate plays and we couldn’t score another. Aris didn’t have clear scoring chances, they attacked three or four times and scored three goals on us. It was a series of bad luck and mistakes. The case is that we’re leaving with a loss that we never expected and it’s a pity. Now we have to win and wait,” he explained.