"On some pitches before there was no penalty, with VAR yes"; what did Simeone mean?

Diego Simeone was not satisfied with his team's 0-0 scoreline by his men against Real Valladolid. Real Valladolid held on well and even missed a penalty which would have meant they won the match.

"The truth is, I didn't see the penalty, I saw it from afar, Thomas wants to touch it with his foot in front of him. I have no doubt that VAR helps us. Sometimes it's good for us, sometimes it's bad for us. But there were pitches where there was no penalty and now there is," the coach began surprisingly.

Upon being asked about these words, he did not want to go deeper into the topic: "I am going to repeat what I said. There wasn't a penalty on some pitches and now the refs go to VAR and watch and then there is a penalty."

The Atletico Madrid coach praised Valladolid's work in the game and defended his strikers actions, who weren't at all successful in Zorrilla.

"We need more precision, more forcefulness and more anger... The strikers have all my support. We'll have to wait," said the coach.

In his post-match press conference, Simeone stated that it was as if they won a point in the first half and lost two in the second if he analyses the end of the game: "According to what we see. We won one point if we see the first time and if we see the second half we lose two. The rival was better in the first half, especially after 15 minutes, they were better positioned, the penalty did not present any danger but was a penalty".

"We did very little in the first half. In the second we were much better, a lot more intense, more precise whe showing danger and we created situations where we could have won. We played a pitch rival, Valladolid attacked less. The second half was closer to how we wanted to play from the start," the Atletico Madrid coach concluded.