Diego Simeone insists he is not thinking of this weekend’s game with Barcelona as his side prepares to face Valencia on Tuesday.
The Argentine’s Atletico Madrid team take on Los Che in a first-leg Copa del Rey game at the Mestalla and Simeone maintains that is the only thing he is focusing on at the moment.
“I swear I’m not thinking about Barca, just Valencia,” he told a Press conference.
Simeone will be up against fellow countryman and new Mestalla boss Juan Antonio Pizzi, who he says he does not know too much about since he became a Coach.
“It’s true I’ve not been able to see a lot of Pizzi as a Coach, so I can’t speak much about him. Yes, I saw his games in Argentina and I get the feeling his teams are brave.
“In Argentina he played with three defenders and he comes here having been a champion there. I wish him well.”
Atletico earned a narrow 1-0 victory at Malaga over the weekend, when the home side played with three central defenders, and Simeone believes there are signs teams are now starting to change the way they play when they come up against his side.
“The majority don’t play with three centre-backs, but it’s possible we’ll need to find different ways to try and resolve these problems [when they do].
“Not all our opponents are the same and we don’t always have to play the same way,” he explained, before admitting he had not decided whether Thibaut Courtois would make way for Dani Aranzubia in goal at Valencia.
“I’ve still not spoken to the players about who will play and I won’t be talking to the media about it first.
“We have come here to play against a team that could have a very good match, because a change of Coach always arouses a lot of enthusiasm.
“Players who did not get minutes under the former boss now have fresh hope. Valencia have good players and an interesting squad.
“We will have to put in a great amount of work,” he concluded.
