Saul encouraged Joao Felix to continue playing like he did against Cadiz, despite not having as many minutes as before. He said that he has the talent, and that he hopes that he shows it. Diego Simeone also said "he played very well", despite the fact that Atletico lost 3-2.
Joao Felix changed the game against Cadiz. When Atletico were losing 2-0, the Portuguese man made it 2-2 in four minutes.
First, he took a scissored shot which rebounded off Luis Hernandez which went straight into the net. After, with an unstoppable right-footed shot, he made the tie 2-2. Cadiz then came back and took the point off them in the last minute, taking home all three points after winning 3-2 thanks to a Ruben Sobrino goal in the 99th minute.
It was a great game for the striker, who did not get rewarded with the win. Saul, after the game, wanted to encourage the striker, who has not been having a good spell recently, and it has been speculated he might be on his way out in January.
"Joao Felix needs to know that the whole team and the fans are behind him, it's something he must know how to manage. He has the quality and he's got to put it to good use for the team, as he does in training and in matches", he said to DAZN.
And, despite there being a lot of talk about his tense relationship with Simeone, the Argentine also praised him to DAZN. "What you do on the pitch speaks for itself and it's the truth. Joao came on to do what he does, and he did it very well. He got one lucky goal, but had the iniciative to create danger, he was the most dangerous attacker on the pitch for the little time he was on", he admitted.