Gabi relishing new season

Atletico Madrid captain Gabi is not awed by the expectation on the champions in the coming season.

The midfielder has told an interview with AS that Atletico won’t get ahead of themselves or start believing their own hype.

“It’s a very exciting season in which there will be a lot of expectation on us,” Gabi acknowledged.

“We understand that people expect us to succeed every day but we know who we’re playing against and the monsters we’re facing.

“We will fight with our weapons, as always, but with our feet on the floor. Let’s go step by step to create dreams and keep people with us and enjoying our game.

“We’ve got an identity and a gap between two teams with more resources than we do. That is the reality. We can’t hide it and it’s all thanks to our work.

“We have worked to earn this gap and must continue, although we know it’s difficult to repeat what has been achieved.”

Atletico have undergone a large squad turnover with the likes of Thibaut Courtois, Filipe Luis and Diego Costa departing, all for Chelsea, and David Villa heading to New York City.

But Antoine Griezmann, Mario Mandzukic, Guilherme Siqueira and Raul Jimenez have been signed in their place, with Gabi asking for time before the team is judged.

“It’s hard to say if we’re better or worse. Important players are gone from the team, who gave everything, but we’ve also signed important international and European players who come from teams at a great level,” he added.

“The Atletico base is solid. We have a very safe idea to play as we do. The team is calm, confident and we have to see if we are worse or better than last year.”

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