"When Simeone said he didn't know what to do after losing the Champions League it was a low blow"

Lisbon and Milan have something in common. They are 2 of the places that can hurt a 'Colchonero' the most. There, Atletico Madrid lost the Champions League first in 2014 and then in 2016. In both cases, Real Madrid were their opponents.

Former Atletico centre-back Diego Godin recalled how he experienced it all: "For me, the hardest final was the one in 2014, but I don't think it hit us so hard because we had just won LaLiga. It took us a while to bounce back. It was a learning experience, a dagger. If we had held on for two more minutes, we would be talking about something else, but we couldn't...", he recalled in a chat with 'Relevo'.

"It took us longer to recover from the second final. We looked stronger, we said that was ours. We arrived with almost 20 days of preparation, we felt good and we had no excuses. Griezmann had the penalty and then we felt we deserved it. The emptiness and the pain were bigger... It was harder for Simeone too, that's why he said he didn't know what he was going to do. It hurt us, it was a low blow because he was our leader," he continued.

But time went on and Simeone agreed to stay in charge. "I called him on holiday to encourage him. I went on holiday, we recuperated and started to heal that wound. We were still crestfallen in pre-season, but we started to heal," he said.

Godin recognises that this Atletico Madrid are not the same as his own: "We didn't play different from 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 and now they play 3-5-2 or 5-3-2, but I don't think the concepts of defending will change much if you know Simeone. They know what they're playing for".

As for the level of the team, he believes that a lot can be demanded of them: "They are always being asked for more. Before the World Cup, they were f*cked up because they weren't winning. I spoke to Simeone and they were in a bad way, that's where you can see the level of demand. He has grown in all aspects. If you don't win, you don't play better or you don't win the championship, but you fight until the end, they are demanding more and more".

Finally, he denied that he was hurt by his departure from Atletico, although he admitted that it hurt him "not to have reached a renewal agreement". "It wasn't because of an economic issue. We took a thoughtful and meditated decision. I don't regret anything because at the end of the day you understand that negotiations are part of this world.