In a press conference where the microphones stopped working halfway through, Diego Simeone lamented his Atlético Madrid team’s 1-0 away defeat to Athletic Club on Saturday night.
Speaking about the run
of away form, Simeone said “I repeat that if you look at almost all teams, except for the top ones, most have problems when they play away from home, and well, we have ours.
“We’ve lost two matches, if I’m not mistaken, well, three now, three with this one, the third we’ve lost away from home,” he continued. “And well, we try (to win)…”
Diego Simeone on the result
“In the first half, we had a chance from Almada that could have been a goal, and another from Julián at the edge of the box that went wide. That’s what I saw happening in the first half. In the second half, I think it was much more competitive, with fewer scoring opportunities for both teams. We had (Sørloth’s) chance to take the lead, and from that same play came their goal. A nice goal, a good shot from outside the area. Congratulations and let’s keep working.”
Diego Simeone on Atleti’s lack of cutting edge
“Yes, maybe. Teams are usually braver when they play at home and less so when they play away. But that happens to almost everyone, except for the few who are different. Most teams experience the same thing. I think we had chances to score, I don’t know if we had more or less than them, but we had clear chances to convert. We couldn’t convert and they took advantage of a game that turned in their favour.”
Diego Simeone on whether the level dropped in the second half
“I’d have to watch the match again. I didn’t think there was much difference in the second half. I don’t think they had any scoring opportunities in the second half. We didn’t create much either. Yes, Alex had one last chance, which could have been a goal. But from what I saw, I’ll let you know on Monday if you’re right or if I think you’re wrong.”
Diego Simeone on the defending for the goal conceded
“The play was so fast that I didn’t quite see what happened. We’ll see what went wrong. It was a good shot; they took advantage of the fact that he was unmarked… They deserved that great goal they scored.”
