Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone spoke to the media ahead of travelling to Bilbao for Saturday night’s La Liga clash with Athletic Club.
Among the topics raised were the number of injuries impacting
the Colchoneros. Marcos Llorente, Johnny Cardoso, Josema Giménez and Álex Baena all have been ruled out of Saturday’s match. On the list of absences, Simeone said “as we always say, it’s normal to have injuries during the season, you always want to avoid them, but they happen.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for the lads who are waiting to show what they can do and give their best, to show why they are at Atlético de Madrid, and they’ll surely have their chance to show it,” the coach said.
Diego Simeone on Robin Le Normand’s fitness
“He trained very well (Friday). He’s been coming back for three or four days now. So we’re going to assess whether he’s ready to start or to help us at some point in the match.”
Diego Simeone on bouncing back from Barcelona
“I’m not dwelling on what happened in the past. We already discussed it after the match, I think quite clearly, how I felt after the match. We need to focus on the match ahead of us, which is going to be tough, difficult, against a strong opponent, in a complex and difficult stadium because of the atmosphere that is always generated there. We’ll have to take the match where we think we can hurt them.”
Diego Simeone on Julián Alvarez’s form
“We make demands of him as we make demands of all players. I don’t think there’s any player who isn’t demanded of, regardless of whether they’re doing well or not going through a good spell. I think we always talk to the players, in general, about their present situation. And we’re guiding him through a process where he can’t score as many goals as he did when he arrived, when he scored 39, right? How many did he score, 39?”
Diego Simeone on Athletic Club
“We will try to hurt them by trying to face them in the best way possible, looking for where we can hurt them and being aware of the many good playing situations they have, which we will have to be very attentive to.”
