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Cholo backs Valencia for CL

Atletico Madrid Coach Diego Simeone believes Valencia will have to have a catastrophic season to miss out on a Champions League place.

Valencia host the champions this weekend and have started the season in strong form, taking 14 points from a possible 18 to move joint-second with Atleti behind Barcelona.

The Valencia camp have in the build-up to the match suggested Atletico’s style of play is too rough but Simeone decided not to retaliate at his pre-match Press conference.

“I’ve not listened to what they said because we were in competition until yesterday,” he revealed, AS reports.

“I’ll respond with what I think of Valencia – they’re a great team who play at a good tempo and have a good squad.

“Without playing in Europe this season they will have to get it wrong to not be in the top four.”

The game comes only a few days after Atletico hosted Italian champions Juventus in the Champions League, claiming a 1-0 win.

Simeone downplayed talk of tiredness among the squad, however, and instead wants the focus on the Valencia match itself.

“We’re not interested [in talk of fatigue]. We hope to have a good game and it’s important to fix what we can, not what we can’t,” he added.

“We’re against a great team that has developed a good squad and has a great Coach. They counter-attack very well and handling it will require a great effort.

“We’ve got time to see if anyone else recovers and joins the squad. The idea is to go into the game with no excuses.”

Tags Diego Simeone
La Liga - Club News