"The new Champions League forces you to win"

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Pablo Simeone said on Monday that the Champions League “requires giving the maximum” and “always pushes to win” in the new format, before facing Sparta Prague on Tuesday, of which he warned of its powerful start and the “important rhythm” it proposes in its matches.

“From what we are getting from the results that are showing up in all the matches, it seems to invite everyone to have a point more attention. As we move forward and this first experience is coming to an end, possibly we will all be clearer visually about what we really think. It is a situation that always pushes you to win, even though before you also had to win,” he said.

“Now we all play against each other and it's not easy for everyone”, continued Simeone, who insisted that the tournament "forces us to win" and warned of the "tough opponent" that awaits them on Tuesday: ”In the Champions League they are strong, especially at home, and they have an important rhythm. I can't imagine any other situation than to take the game where we think we can hurt them and control their intensity”.

Grateful “for the words” and praise from his counterpart on the bench of the Czech team, Lars Friis, “because it's many years of work”, he stressed the importance of the start of the match, in which “most” of the local teams “are strong and intense”. “It is logical because they are with their people,” he added.

 

November 25, 2024

“We have to adapt to that pace of play that is going to appear at the start of the match, because we are facing an opponent that will push very hard at the start,” explained the coach, who noted that "there is not much to explain" about his message on Sunday on social networks, on the occasion of his 700 games, but with an eye to the future.

“It was simply to represent what I imagined, I was excited, excited and saw. Everything that was happening, is happening and hopefully we can continue to work thinking about the game by game,” said Simeone, who made his debut with Atletico Madrid on January 7th, 2012 and has a contract with the Spanish club until June 30th, 2027.

The coach posted on his Sunday message on social media: “All my thanks to Atletico Madrid for these 700 games. And as I said years ago, this club has a future. So let's go for more all together. Thank you always.

At the same time, he included a video from the last matchday of the 2016-17 season at the now defunct Vicente Calderon, when he addressed the fans microphone in hand: “Journalists keep asking me if I'm going to stay. Yes. I'm going to stay. And do you know why I'm going to stay? Because this club has a future. And the future is all of us.