Diego Simeone took responsibility for Atletico Madrid’s defeat at Celta Vigo, lamenting a ‘wasted’ first 45 minutes.
Goals from Nolito, a penalty, and Fabian Orellana gave victory to Eduardo Berizzo’s side and leave the champions seven points adrift of leaders Real Madrid.
Simeone deployed an experimental XI with Fernando Torres, Mario Manduzkic and Antoine Griezmann all starting, but admitted after the match that the idea didn’t work.
“In the first half I chose a bad formation. I lost 45 minutes. I chose badly,” he said, AS reports.
“The fault lies not with Fernando [Torres, who was withdrawn at half-time], who had to come off, but we couldn’t find balance to the team.
“We started better in the second half. Then there’s the penalty and the second goal. Celta played very well.
“We’ll see [if Torres, Mandzukic and Griezmann play together again]. I don’t know. Today it would be rash to say anything beyond it didn’t work.
“We lacked balance. We lost the ball too quickly. We wanted speed with Torres and Griezmann but it didn’t happen.
“We lost the ball at the start of moves. So I brought on Cani, and the team improved.”
Simeone also explained why Tiago Mendes was substituted after barely half-an-hour, revealing it wasn’t tactical, as he had already changed the shape of the team by that point.
“He left because of his calf. He asked to go off and Mario [Suarez] came on but we had already changed to 4-3-3, with Torres on the left,” Cholo confirmed.
The Coach stressed that the defeat isn’t a terminal blow to Atletico’s season and, when asked if this was an example of the title being lost at a smaller ground, insisted it wasn’t.
“We keep competing. We’re thinking about next Sunday. I don’t think Balaidos is a small ground,” he replied.
