Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone was all smiles after his side snatched a win from Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes. He sent on Angel Correa, and the Argentine scored in the final minute to secure a 2-1 win, and Atletico’s second triumph in the Champions League.
After the match, Simeone hinted that he had sat his squad down to give them a stern talking to about their performances after losing to Real Betis at the end of October. Since, they have won all three games.
“We had a bad game against Betis, we had an important talk and from there, the intention with which we played against Vic, despite scoring the goal in the 80th minute, was of a team that wanted to compete, against Las Palmas the same and today the same. We are going after that idea , we can’t go away from it, it’s been twelve years building this and we can’t go away.”
Simeone was quick to calm any euphoria after a huge win over PSG though.
“It is an important victory but there is still a long way to go. After Betis it wasn’t all bad and now it’s not all good.”
Simeone also said that his side were getting their identity back.
“What I was telling your colleague is that it confirms what is good for us. They can criticise us for the match against Real Sociedad, but there was an idea and against Betis, we were not following a path. We didn’t feel identified [with what we were doing], but later, it happened as it did, again in a stadium where it is not easy to win.” he told Diario AS.
Something echoed by Antoine Griezmann after the match, who felt they pulled their plan off.
“This is Atletico. We needed a game like this, well worked tactically. It was difficult for us to win away since last year,” Griezmann commented. “The plan was not to give space to Dembele and Barcola, because if you let them, they have the speed they have, so it would be difficult for us. [We] put in a low block and made it so they couldn’t run as much. They have get passed us two or three times and they have hurt us. But Oblak made the stops.”
🚨 Diego Simeone: “We’ve talked a lot with Axel [Witsel]. We don’t know if he has one year, two, or six months left, but I enjoyed it; he has the quality for it. He learned to play as a libero, which makes me very happy. He’s always given us everything he has since he arrived.” pic.twitter.com/7Rf4nripls
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) November 7, 2024
“It’s going to help us a lot, because we once again saw Atletico hard and difficult to play against, and that’s the way to go. To be strong. It’s true that we’ve had a bit of luck but that’s football. Against Lille we could have won, and we lost,” he assured.
Atletico have not necessarily conveyed an image of defensive solidity this season, but have conceded an impressive 7 goals in 12 La Liga games so far. While that has not translated to Europe until now, they do have the best record in La Liga. Many had expected have more of an attacking slant this season, given their investment in Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth, but Simeone clearly wants ‘Cholismo’ installed.
