Diego Simeone has reflected on his delight at reaching a year with Atletico Madrid and then looked ahead to his ambitions for 2013.
The Coach has just passed 12 months in the job at the Vicente Calderon, a period of time that has seen the side win two trophies and rise to second in the League table.
“First of all I feel great joy to complete a year at a club that I want and where I have found a group that has shown commitment, belonging and that conveys what we want from a team, that is about all of that and are a team that can do great things,” enthused El Cholo, before expressing his support towards colleague Tito Vilanova at Barcelona.
“I offer my absolute support, energy and strength for a brave guy who has been through this situation. The energy of everyone around him will see him get well.”
The Argentine was asked of his ambitions heading into 2013, with the final game of 2012 on the horizon this Friday.
“We are in the middle of this championship and we want to continue along the same line. I feel great joy at our current situation because when we arrived the situation was not easy and the players have made a great effort to become competitive.
“The hardest thing is to maintain stability. When making such a great effort for the club in every game, the players must be able to maintain the stability needed to continue improving. Our goal is to be competitive against everyone.
“I’m guided day by day, that what I think makes the team good. I would love to find stability [in the League], something that is not easy, and that we can then maintain. It depends on us remaining calm.”
Simeone was talking ahead of Friday night’s home fixture with Celta Vigo.
“Celta play well and we like them. They have good offensive variants, a good dynamic and with Iago Aspas they can be destabilising in attack.
“They have a direct game away from home and we must be attentive to this and control the middle of the field.”
