Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone previewed the tie against Deportivo La Coruña in the Copa del Rey last 16 on Tuesday night, but he couldn’t escape questions about his clash with Vinícius Júnior of Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final.
“First, I would like to apologize to Mr. Florentino (Pérez) and also to Mr. Vinícius for the incident you saw,” he said. “Obviously, it was not right of me to put myself in that position, and I accept that I was wrong.”
Simeone went on to assess the defeat
against Real Madrid, saying that “the team that wins deserves to go through, they won, they deserved to go through, although we were close to equalizing at the end, as we saw.
“They always compete as we are used to seeing, and Barcelona is in very good form, they’re a team with great players, a coach who has very clear ideas, a team that pursues a very good style of play and the result is the trophies they are winning,” Simeone added.
Diego Simeone on Thiago Almada’s role and progress
“He’s a player who plays very well, who has qualities that were clearly evident at the end of (Thursday’s) match, especially when we played against a team that sat deep. He has the ability to see the game and provide assists, as he did for Julián in the last move of the match. It’s clear that we need him at his best.”
Diego Simeone on Deportivo La Coruña
“What we look at is what we see in the games. They’re a brave team that has significant counterattacking power. They’re competing very well, despite some unfavorable results in recent games. They eliminated Mallorca, which we know is a team that doesn’t give you anything away and competes very well. We’re going to face a tough, difficult game at a very nice stadium, and we hope to take the game where we think we can hurt them.”
Diego Simeone on the importance of the Copa del Rey
“It’s the same as at the start of the season and for the Super Cup.”
Diego Simeone on the criticism he received after clashing with Vinícius
“I don’t think I have anything else to add.”
Diego Simeone on the Copa del Rey format
“Nothing to say, because obviously we have absolutely no influence with anything we might say. They tell us to play against whoever we have to play and there we are, trying to do our best from the position we have for what is important in our team.”
Diego Simeone on Josema Giménez’s situation and internal competition
“He’s working very well and obviously we need him at his best. It’s also true that Marc Pubill is doing very well in that position at the moment. They know about the internal competition and it will be better for the team to raise that competition so that whoever can do it, when it’s their turn, is at a good level.”
Diego Simeone on the responsibility in his role
“I’ve always said that I’ve felt that responsibility since the first day I arrived. I’ve always felt it, and obviously it increases the longer I’m here at the club. But it doesn’t distract me. I know what I want, I know what the goal is, I know the path, I know where I want to go, and I have no doubt that I won’t stop until I run out of energy.”
