Espanyol Coach Javier Aguirre believes his side fell victim to Atletico Madrid’s ruthless nature in their 1-0 defeat on Saturday.
Diego Costa scored the only goal of the game and Aguirre told a post-match Press conference that the goal summed up Atletico’s effective style.
“Atletico are a very capable team, you can’t forget that,” the former Atleti Coach said.
“From our throw-in the ball ends up in the back of our net. You make a mistake here and you pay for it.”
Aguirre added that in his mind, Atletico are the best team in Europe – the emphasis firmly on team.
“Their hard work, humility, and respect makes them the best, as a team, in Spain and the whole of Europe.
“You have to be humble enough to accept that they have people who are doing really well.
“Without a doubt they’re one of the best teams in Europe, they’re fighting with Real Madrid and Barcelona for the title.”
On his own side Aguirre added that Espanyol didn’t play poorly, but revealed he took little consolation from that.
“We weren’t bad today but we lost and that’s all that matters. It’s a defeat although we don’t think of it as a step back.
“When you lose against such a great team you can be proud your team has done a good job. Now we think of Levante,” Aguirre continued.
