Atletico Madrid ready for Champions League success at last: Diego Simeone
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Atletico Madrid's Robin le Normand (centre) and his teammates celebrate after progressing to the Champions League semi-finals on April 14.
PHOTO: AFP
- Atletico Madrid reached the Champions League semi-final, defeating Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate, despite losing the home leg 2-1.
- Barcelona took an early lead with goals from Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres, but Lookman's goal narrowed Atletico’s deficit.
- Eric Garcia's red card reduced Barcelona to 10 men, and Atletico will face Arsenal or Sporting in the semi-final.
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MADRID – Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone said his team are ready to finally win the Champions League after knocking out Barcelona on April 14 to reach the semi-finals.
Los Rojiblancos fell to a 2-1 quarter-final, second-leg defeat at home but that was enough to progress 3-2 on aggregate after their 2-0 win at the Camp Nou last week.
Atletico, who have never won the competition, will face Arsenal or Sporting Lisbon in the semi-finals.
“We’ll go into it with all our hope, with total belief. We know the strengths we have and our flaws,” said Simeone. “We’re ready. We’re going to go after what we’ve been chasing for many years.”
Simeone led Atletico to the Champions League final in 2014 and 2016, with both ending in painful defeats by cross-town rivals Real Madrid. The last time Los Rojiblancos made the semi-finals was in 2017.
“It’s been 14 years now (at the helm), it still excites me to see that the team keeps competing,” added the Argentinian.
“The players have changed, we’ve had to start over a bunch of times, and here we are again among the four best teams in Europe.”
Veteran Atletico forward Antoine Griezmann said his team always believed they could find a way back after Barca’s two early goals after 24 minutes.
Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres fired the five-time winners ahead on April 14 but Ademola Lookman pulled one back for Atletico and it proved decisive.
“With our fans and the quality that we have, we could get (our) goal,” Griezmann told reporters.
“We weren’t comfortable with the ball, we weren’t calm enough to play but we got to the semi-finals.”
He added: “It was a beautiful tie and a difficult one, against a team that plays very well. It was really tough, but we got through.”
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick, meanwhile, said he believes his eliminated team deserved to progress to the semi-finals but had to learn from their defeat.
“We played a fantastic first half, (but) we have to score more goals. It was really possible, (but) we conceded the goal we didn’t expect at this moment,” he said.
“When you see both matches, we deserved to get to the semi-final. The mentality, the attitude they showed on the pitch – I’m really proud about that.”
Flick also said that although he was happy with his players, being knocked out was disappointing and something they had to learn from.
Barcelona finished both games with 10 men, with young defender Pau Cubarsi sent off at the Camp Nou and Eric Garcia dismissed at the Metropolitano on April 14.
“We have to learn (from) these things, what we have to do, but we have a young team and I think we will improve next season,” added the German coach.
“Every day we have to learn more, we have to be better and this is what we have to do... It’s very disappointing for everyone and I am also disappointed. It’s football, it’s life, and we have to come back.” AFP
