"The only thing that matters after 14 years is to be champions"

Less than a week to go until the ball starts rolling in the Club World Cup and the different participating teams are already finalising their preparations to arrive in the best conditions. Simeone wanted to take advantage of the moment and gave his first impressions of Atletico in an interview with 'La Nación'.

"And if Atletico Madrid have something special... Who could play us in our group? The Copa Libertadores champions (Botafogo) and the Champions League champion (PSG). For us it's a bigger challenge and we're going to go and win the Club World Cup, that's the objective," he said emphatically.

Simeone also revealed how he felt after the setback in March: "I have to be honest and this time it hurt, it hurt a lot. After 14 years at the club, the responsibility is much greater and the weight I put on myself is much greater than at the beginning. The joy after a victory becomes a relief, no longer a joy. Why? Because after 14 years the only thing that matters to me is to become champion," he  said.

"I've already gone through all the other passages. But of course, to become champion you have to walk a long and difficult road, and this time, possibly, it was one of the years that hit me the hardest. I could draw a parallel with the 2016 Champions League final. Because we had a very good season from October to February, and from February/March onwards, in one week all those cards that we had sorted fell out. The building collapsed".

"Of course, in that match against Getafe, I had no doubt that it was the most important match of the week. I said to everyone “this is the match, I don't care if Madrid come next, this is the match”. And unfortunately, what I didn't want to happen happened: in a game that was on track, that we were winning 1-0 without playing well, details came up that took us out and we lost without deserving it. And then came the game with Madrid in midweek, where we played a very good game both in the 90 and 120 minutes, and we only missed one penalty, Llorente's, because we know what happened with Julian's", he concluded.