Cholo: What’s wrong with set-piece goals?

Diego Simeone has questioned why Atletico Madrid’s strength from set-pieces comes in for criticism after Getafe were beaten by the champions.

Mario Mandzukic scored the only goal at Coliseum Alfonso Perez, converting from close range after Arda Turan’s shot was blocked following a corner.

Simeone said after the match that from the attention Atletico’s set-piece goals get, it’s as if there’s something wrong with scoring from them.

“It happened again today. They’re a tool of football but it’s as if it’s wrong to score that way,” he said, AS reports.

“It’s normal to have these options. After playing three games in a week it’s not easy to have eight goals for and none against.”

Cholo added that the match itself was a hard one for Atletico, even after Getafe went down to 10 men when Alexis was sent off just before the hour mark.

“The first half was a good game, controlled, until the sending off,” he continued.

“But in the last 30 minutes, Getafe’s courage lead them to play a good game. We stepped back and we suffered.

“To win all three games this week has extra value.

“We couldn’t stop the fight of Getafe in the last 30 minutes. We live day-to-day and it’s very important for the week we’ve had that we got a result.”

The victory takes Atletico to within touching distance of Sevilla and Barcelona, the League’s top two, and having previously said Atletico’s main rivals for League positions were Los Rojiblancos, among others, Simeone was asked if that is still the case.

“This has happened in the League before, three or four teams fighting at the top,” he noted.

“How it stands after February is the important issue. For now, they’re just points.”

Tags Diego Simeone
La Liga - Club News