"Inter are among the four or five best teams in Europe"

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Pablo Simeone praised Inter, their opponents in the last 16 of the Champions League, who he considered to be among "the four or five best teams in Europe at the moment", while envisioning a "match of duels" on Tuesday that will be won by whoever wins the most.

"We have to think that Inter are among the best four or five teams in Europe at the moment, because the Serie A speaks for itself, the way they are doing it; the way they played in the Champions League last season, making a great final against Manchester City, and now they are competing with even more confidence," he said from the San Siro stadium, the venue for Tuesday's first-leg clash.

"I really like the way Inter play. I've been saying that for a long time. They play concretely, simply and sometimes the simple things are the ones that work best. They work collectively as a team. It will be a game, I guess, of duels. Whoever wins the most duels will have the best chance of getting closer to victory," he said.

Asked if it will be the most demanding game so far this season for Atletico, he said: "Let's see, so far we've played Real Madrid, who are a very important opponent, at the same level as Inter. We're on that similar line to that game we've played against Real Madrid, especially in the Super Cup and the Copa del Rey."

"We need to play with the intensity we played in the last Copa del Rey games and the other day with Las Palmas. Obviously, we're going to face an opponent who are in a great moment, who have the weapons to attack from any side and, taking risks to sustain the attack, we'll play where we think we can hurt them," he said.

 

February 20, 2024

"Llorente is different to the other strikers we have"

Marcos Llorente is once again aiming to be a striker. "He has a different characteristic to the other strikers we have, possibly more similar to Correa, because of his work rate, his pace, and he's not a pure striker, like Morata or Memphis. We'll see the game we're planning, we'll think about how to work with him tonight and on Tuesday we'll decide which way to go," he explained.

Inter star Lautaro Martinez could have signed for Atletico five years ago. The Argentine attacker eventually went to the Italian club. "There are very young players, not just Lautaro, who could have signed for us and in the end didn't. He is a very good player. He has chosen another path which has been very good for him. We see him with everything that has happened to him and I am very happy for him as an Argentine and as a player," he said.

He will also face Simone Iznaghi, his former team-mate at Lazio, winner of 1 Serie A, 1 Coppa Italia and 2 Super Cups, one domestic and one European, in 2000. "We always had a very good relationship, we talked a lot about football together. When we played you could see that he was hungry for football, that there was a coach in him," he recalled.

"We are going to see each other again on Tuesday. I'm very fond of him. I'm very happy for him, for what he's achieving with Inter. He is a great coach," added Simeone, who also played for Inter, with whom he won the 1998 UEFA Cup, and was asked by a journalist on behalf of his former team-mate Ivan Zamorano.

"I remember the extraordinary pass I gave him from 40 yards out, he was one-on-one with the goalkeeper and he finished with enormous quality. A great memory of Ivan and a great match that we played with the team," he recalled of that match against Lazio on 6th May 1998, a 3-0 win.