Atletico boss Simeone showers praise on Barcelona stars after 3-0 defeat – ‘They play brilliantly’

FC Barcelona came close to achieving the improbable against Atletico Madrid last night in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal, but failed to overturn the four-goal deficit from the first leg.

The Blaugrana won 3-0 on the night, riding on a Marc Bernal brace and a Raphinha penalty. But the aggregate scoreline ended 4-3 in favour of Los Rojiblancos.

Simeone praises Barcelona duo

Speaking to the media after the game, Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone was effusive in praise of Barcelona pair Pedri and Raphinha, acknowledging their return made a difference.

“I know what these Barcelona players are capable of; they play brilliantly. Today, Pedri and Raphinha returned, and they are different, they play at a different pace, and they had a good first half,” Simeone acknowledged.

“Although it hurts that the goals came from lapses in concentration on set pieces rather than from open play. I don’t know if the 3-0 goal was offside or not; it put us in a difficult position,” he added.

On whether he would have signed up for a 3-0 loss before the game, Simeone replied: “I wouldn’t have signed for it, because we needed to and could have played a better game offensively.

“We’re Atletico, we’re destined to suffer, to always push ourselves to the limit, but I don’t know what it will bring us, but believe me, the journey is fantastic.”

Simeone was full of praise for Barcelona. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

Further talking about the intensity that Barcelona presented on the pitch last night, Simeone stated:

“Pedri, Bernal and everyone else made a tremendous effort. It was difficult to maintain that intensity; the substitutions helped. Gimenez’s introduction gave us maturity, and maturity is needed within the team.”

On whether he expected his team to suffer that much during the game, the Argentine admitted:

“When you play against teams like Barça, you know you’re destined to suffer if you don’t attack. They suffer if the opponent strings together passes and looks to attack. We didn’t attack; they pressed us, they ran down the clock.

“The few chances we had, we made them count; Lookman’s shot, another through ball that he could have finished better… There weren’t many, we expected more.”

Finally, touching upon his conversation with Barcelona manager Hansi Flick, Simeone revealed that he hoped to face the Catalans again in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

“He was telling me his opinion on situations that happened in the match, and I told him they played brilliantly,” he said.

“I hope we can face each other in the Champions League quarterfinals so we can compete at our best. Today, when we were up 3-0, I said, ‘This is Atleti.’”

Source: AS