MADRID, April 15 — Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone said his side are ready to finally lift the Champions League after eliminating Barcelona to reach the semi-finals yesterday.
MADRID, April 15 — Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone said his side are ready to finally lift the Champions League after eliminating Barcelona to reach the semi-finals yesterday.
The Rojiblancos lost the second leg 2-1 at home but progressed 3-2 on aggregate thanks to their 2-0 victory at Camp Nou last week.
Atletico, who have never won the competition, will now face either Arsenal or Sporting Lisbon in the semi-finals.
“We’ll go into it with all our hope and full belief. We understand our strengths and our weaknesses,” Simeone said.
“We are ready. We will go after what we have been chasing for many years.”
Simeone has previously guided Atletico to the Champions League final in 2014 and 2016, both ending in defeat to city rivals Real Madrid. Their last semi-final appearance came in 2017.
“It has been 14 years now, and it still excites me to see the team continuing to compete,” the Argentine added.
“The players have changed and we’ve had to rebuild many times, but here we are again among Europe’s top four.”
Atletico forward Antoine Griezmann said the team believed they could respond after Barcelona’s early goals.
Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres put the five-time champions ahead on Tuesday, but Ademola Lookman pulled one back for Atletico, which proved decisive.
“With our fans and the quality we have, we believed we could score,” Griezmann said.
“We weren’t comfortable on the ball or calm enough in possession, but we still made it to the semi-finals.”
He added: “It was a beautiful but very tough tie against a strong opponent. It was difficult, but we got through.”
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick felt his side deserved to progress despite the elimination but admitted they must learn from the defeat.
“We played a fantastic first half, but we needed more goals. We conceded at a crucial moment,” Flick said.
“Over both legs, we deserved to reach the semi-finals. The mentality and attitude were excellent, and I am very proud.”
Flick noted his team finished both matches with 10 men, after Pau Cubarsi was sent off in the first leg and Eric Garcia dismissed in the return fixture.
“We must learn from these situations and improve. We have a young team and will get better next season,” he said.
“It is very disappointing, but this is football and life—we will come back.” — AFP
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