Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone appeared in press statements after the 1-1 draw against Real Madrid in the eighth round of the Spanish league.
The coach said about the events in the stands: “We all have to help, the people who threw Those lighters, like what happened at the Bernabeu when Courtois was our player and he got a lighter in the head, are not okay, but maybe when we underestimate people, burden them, provoke people, make people angry, people have no other way to do it: in a bad way, and that’s not right. But we also have to try to be calm. You can celebrate a goal, but you cannot celebrate that way (meaning Courtois), because then people get angry. This is not justified, but there is always a victim.”
He added. “With Marcos, Llorente and Gallagher, we wanted physical strength in the midfield, and we wanted more offensive play with De Paul and leaving Julian on the other side. He already did that at City. The first half was normal, and the second was completely the opposite.”
He continued: “We improved in the match and we took possession of the ball. Koke gave us more play. We conceded a goal and then there was a stop to the match. In parentheses, it was better for us, as we talked and explained the situations and an important change in the last 20 minutes.”
br>
On the importance of Griezmann: “He always had something different. Before he gets close to the finish line, we need him to be close to the area because different things always happen that way.
He continued: “For the people who committed those incidents, the club will have to make a decision as it must be made. We don’t need these people in the stands, we need those who support us, accompany us, and think about the club I hit him in the head when he was playing for Atletico and it shouldn’t happen, the clubs have to make sure it doesn’t happen, but be careful with us who become the victims because if we make the accusation there might be a reaction, and we can’t provoke whether it’s Simeone or Courtois, Vinicius, Messi or Griezmann.”
He concluded: “In the first half we defended correctly, we did not play well, and we could have identified some counterattacks better, but we were not able to be champions. In the second half we performed well, and we scored a draw.”
