Diego Simeone has explained if he can’t motivate his Atletico Madrid players for their Champions League semi final he should leave the club.
Los Rojiblancos trail their city neighbours 3-0 from last week’s first leg at the Bernabeu before hosting them in the final European fixture at the Vicente Calderon on Wednesday for a place against Juventus in next month’s final.
“The rivalry is part of the game and above all, people enjoy it,” Simeone told his pre-match press conference.
“In this competition with the intense rivalry between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, it’s no surprise. It’s also a game that the press take part in, it can be sold better and they can take their position either on one side or the other.
“Sincerely I believe that if I need to motivate my players for this game tomorrow then I really need to leave this place, this club.
“I believe the motivation is only to get up tomorrow morning and to start to look ahead at playing – I don’t believe there is a game similar to this.
“All games we know are difficult and Wednesday we have a very important rival who are leading the tie 3-0 and have also won two finals so we have our challenge and motivation.”