2023-09-23 22:17:36
Sep 23, 2023, 2:30 p.m. ET
Diego Simeonecoach of Atlético de Madrid, He highlighted this Saturday that the Real Madridhis rival in this Sunday’s derby at the Cívitas Metropolitano stadium, He is “very strong, very sure of what he does” at the beginning of the season, while describing Javier Alberola Rojas, the referee of the match, as “a great referee” and recalled that his team “has always competed very well” against the white team and Barcelona in the eleven years that has been in office.
¡LaLiga, a Star+!
Don’t miss the matches of one of the most attractive leagues on the Old Continent. Star+
Editorial Selections
2 Related
“We are facing an opponent who is very good, very strong, very confident in what they do. They have had important losses and have resolved them in the best way. We know that it will be a tough, difficult game, like all of us who play against them. Madrid. And, from there, look for a way to take the game where we think we can hurt them,” said the coach.
His team is eight points behind Real Madrid with one game less. “Important League match, which we have to do in the best way, like all the League matches ahead of us. The Champions League is behind us, after having played a good match in Rome and hoping to continue the line especially from that match , which was good in my opinion,” said the coach during the press conference after morning training.
Atlético have won only one of their last 14 League derbies. “The statistics are there and there is nothing more to it than that,” said the coach, whose team has faced that opponent 39 times throughout the Simeone era, with a balance of ten wins, 14 draws and 15 defeats from the first, on April 11, 2012 (1-4 at the Vicente Calderón) until the present.
“In these eleven years that we have been at the club, both Real Madrid and Barcelona have always had great teams, because they are great clubs and can afford to have great players, and yet we have always competed very well,” review.
“What we have to do is continue to improve ourselves, continue growing thinking about ourselves and, based on believing in ourselves, look for the paths that led us to compete.” These eleven years with them have been very good,” continued the coach, who does not pay attention to the refereeing aspect in the hours before the derby, despite the controversy of last season’s confrontations, with one sent off in the red and white team in each one. of them, with two defeats (1-2 in the League and 3-1 in extra time in the Copa del Rey) and one draw (1-1 in the League).
“A great referee”
The referee will be Javier Alberola Rojas. “We are more concerned about the game. I think that refereeing should be left alone. He is a great referee. It is his first derby and he will be very excited and enthusiastic about doing it well, like the footballers. And we should worry and take care of what we really have what to do, for the team to have a great game,” he declared.
Injuries have hampered Atlético at the start of the competition, especially in the midfield line. “All teams have injuries. The other day I was listening to Guardiola, who was also suffering from injuries and even the best team in the world suffers from this situation. He explained it very well. With the enormous number of games there are, we coaches are going to have to go through these types of situations,” he explained.
“We always need them to recover in the best way. The teams that manage to have a better recovery in less time will get more out of it.”, but injuries are going to appear. From that, it is clear that when you have stability with 12, 13 players continuously it is better for the team. When you have to continually change it’s more complex, but we have to go through it, because it’s going to happen,” he explained.
“I listened to Guardiola and I share everything he explained before starting the season, when Courtois, Militao or De Bruyne had been injured. From there, it is very clear: many games, many trips, we have three selection cuts to start the season. season to December, preseason with little work schedule, with many games, we have to be prepared, adapt to what we have to have and try to do it in the best way, because in the end everyone cares about the result,” he remarked.
Simeone recovers Koke Resurrección for the derby, after four games out. “He comes from a fairly cautious recovery period, physically he is already fine, he returned to training this week, he is available and then we will see if he starts or waits to be able to enter the second half,” the coach reviewed. with the absences due to injury of Rodrigo de Paul, Caglar Soyuncu, Reinildo Mandava, Thomas Lemar and Pablo Barrios.
#Simeone #Real #Madrid #strong