Tiago Mendes has mused that Atletico Madrid were downbeat to concede an equaliser to Villarreal, even as he concedes the team were made to work.
Atleti saw Sunday evening’s hosts dominate possession and eventually cancel out Mario Gaspar’s early own goal through Ikechukwu Uche’s equaliser, with the Yellow Submarine becoming the second team to take points off Los Colchoneros this season.
“Villarreal were very strong with the ball, they were very comfortable,” Tiago has conceded to reporters this week.
“They also had to come back into the game after our goal at the start and they demanded a lot. We worked a lot, did not create much danger, whilst they had a lot of possession.
“No doubt they moved the ball much from one wing to the other. That required much of us in the middle.
“But we were comfortable, even as we did not create many chances. We worked hard, and we are sad about the goal that we did concede.
“What was missing? When we recovered the ball, the first and second pass should have been of higher quality, more accurate. Because we were short in this, it returned possession.”
