Diego Simeone believes Atletico Madrid players are at a disadvantage for winning individual awards: ‘Maybe the values are not the same’.
The Argentine boss cited previous examples – including that of current Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois – of when his players were overlooked for individual titles.
“What do I think of individual awards? That is a question that makes me laugh, because you already know the answers and the reasons,” Simeone told reporters, as cited by Marca.
“When Courtois was here (at Atletico), the award for best goalkeeper in the world went to Keylor Navas, (who joined Real Madrid) from Levante.
“Now that he is no longer with us he is being given these titles, it shows that it is more difficult to earn these awards when you are with Atleti.
“When you are here, you must work very hard and put in a lot of effort, these are qualities that maybe are not valued the same for these titles.
“Antoine Griezmann? I’ve already told him how proud I am of the year he has, to win the World Cup, to be so decisive, and then everything he did for us.
“I congratulate Luka (Modric) for having a good season, but I would have chosen (Raphael) Varane or Griezmann.”
