Simeone defends ‘act of heroism’

Diego Simeone jumped to Jose Maria Gimenez’s defence following the stopper’s “act of heroism” in Atletico Madrid’s 2-0 win at Real Sociedad on Saturday.

The Uruguay international appeared to haul down Jonathas for a penalty in added time with a head-first lunge, only to escape punishment and the striker to be sent off for his protestations, but the Coach believes the referee made the right call.

“The truth is that I was far away from [the incident] as I was in the dugout, but I was told that [Gimenez] hit the ball when threw himself over in an act of heroism,” he said after the game, which was decided by goals from Antoine Griezmann and Yannick Ferreira Carrasco.

“The referee saw that he touched the ball and not [Jonathas’] body. The player was looking for contact with Gimenez in his heroic act.

“Koke’s very important to this team because he provides balance to our defence and attack.

“He did important work [on Saturday] and, even better, ended the game well.

“[Real] are a super-competitive team but we managed to break their siege without conceding.”

Tags Diego Simeone Jonathas Jose Maria Gimenez
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