Simeone celebrates his centenary in the round of 16, with an undefeated Atlético and with the same goals as City: "We didn't have any backpack"
Who was going to tell Simeone a year ago, not only that he would eat the nougat with Atlético de Madrid, with the team eliminated from Europe and far from the lead in LaLiga, but that he would turn the team, once again, into a perfectly oiled machine. “Very happy for the players,” he explained at the end of the match against Feyenoord. “We had very good individual performances and also as a team,” he added.
Against the Dutch, he also completed his 100th game in the Champions League as a red-and-white coach.. He thus becomes the third coach with the most appearances in the first European competition after Alex Ferguson with Manchester United (190) and Arsene Wenger with Arsenal (177).. The fourth would be Pep Guardiola, 81 games in charge of Manchester City. Simeone's balance is: 48 wins, 27 draws and 25 losses.
“It is important to finish as high as possible. We had been without the peace of mind of being first or second for years,” commented Simeone about a new classification for the round of 16.. With this there are eight participations in which the team passes from the group stage of 11 with Simeone on the bench. Of these, three times they have reached the quarterfinals, once the semifinals and then there are the two lost finals with Real Madrid.
This year, Atlético de Madrid remains undefeated in this group stage with three wins and two draws. Very different from last season where there were three defeats, while they barely achieved one victory and the same draws.. With the victory against Feyenoord, Atlético breaks its streak of one year and eight months without winning away from home in Europe.
Riquelme, MVP
The MVP of the match, youth player Rodrigo Riquelme, absent for the 2022/23 season, said that the locker room “didn't have any backpacks” after the failure last year. Riquelme valued the victory as what they had come to do and assured that it had been a “nice to see” match.
A match in which there were four goals, three of them red and white. With these three, Atlético raises its tally to 15 and ties with Manchester City as the highest scoring team in this group stage. The Uruguayan defender Giménez smiled when asked about the chances in the game and assured that they had taken advantage of them when in other years “it didn't happen.”
With its homework done, 11 points compared to Lazio's 10, the Colchonero team will play for first place in the group on December 13 against the Italians at the Metropolitano. Riquelme sees the locker room very confident to “give war in the Champions League and in LaLiga”.
Barça, who also beat Porto yesterday, will be the next touchstone for Simeone's team. The sets arrive at very different game moments. The meeting will be on Sunday in Montjuic. For now, the Atlético players want to enjoy their victory and leave all thoughts of the Blaugrana team for Wednesday.