A point apiece from a 1-1 draw left Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone unusually pessimistic as he gave his post-match press conference after a hard-fought 90 minutes against Real Sociedad, where he also
offered a review of the season to date.
“I don’t like to give my opinion halfway through the season,” Simeone said. “We’re halfway through, as you say, with 38 points, another 38 might be enough to get into the Champions League, but it wouldn’t be enough for anything more important.
“If we want to get to a more important place, let’s hope, game by game, to keep adding as many points as we can to compete until the end in the best way possible,” he said.
Diego Simeone on struggles away from home
“I think the match looked pretty good, in my opinion. We had four clear scoring opportunities, maybe Julián Alvarez’s first one wasn’t so clear, the second one was quite important, then Conor Gallagher’s, which was for 2-0, then Antoine’s, which the goalkeeper read very well. (Real Sociedad) played a good game, they pressed us, they took time away from us, they tried to take away our time at the start of the game, but I repeat, I always say this whenever I can, for me, football is about the penalty areas. Everything is very nice in the middle of the pitch, the pressure, the third man, the fourth, the fifth, but we saw Barcelona’s match yesterday: one team has chances to score, creates them, doesn’t convert them, and the other team converts them.”
Diego Simeone on the Barrios substitution and Johnny’s minutes
“We decided to take him off, let’s hope it’s just that, discomfort in his heel. Johnny Cardoso came on well, I liked him, to be honest, he came on with the pace and intensity that the team needed. He assisted Antoine very well in that play, when he had the chance to score. Let’s hope he can keep up that pace because we need him, and we’ll see if Pablo Barrios can join us for the next few matches or not.”
Diego Simeone on Julián Alvarez’s form
“It’s clear that he’s a player who has given us a lot since he arrived, and so obviously now, when he’s not able to give us what he surely wants, people are looking for reasons why he’s not doing well, why he’s not scoring goals, why this or that. As long as we see him running, as long as we see him playing with intensity, as long as we see him behaving well within the team, there’s time. So he’s an extraordinary player, the best player we have. He’ll surely come through at a very important moment.”
Diego Simeone on whether it’s two points dropped
“I’m left with what we saw, specific situations to win the match, and then, of course, you don’t score and, obviously, you open up the possibility for the opponent to have, as they did in the last play today, a shot that could have been a goal for them too. In the first half, we had chances to get the game on track; in the second half, Conor Gallagher’s chance was particularly important, as was Antoine’s, which the goalkeeper saved well. (Those are) chances that sometimes result in goals; when they result in goals, obviously, everything goes one way, and when they don’t, it’s difficult.”
Diego Simeone on the Super Cup derby
“No, honestly, I’m not thinking about the match on, I don’t know when, the 8th?”
