Diego Simeone has said the key to Atletico Madrid’s success in knockout competitions is they treat every game as if it is their last one.
Atletico meet Celta Vigo in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals on Wednesday, with Cholo appearing before the Press to discuss the encounter.
“The secret is to not think [about anything around the game,” he said, AS reports.
“I focus only on the game as if it was our last one. Knockouts are always intense, especially against teams such as Celta.
“We’ve achieved consistency, which is very difficult. And it depends [on the game against Celta], of course. For that to be appreciated we need to do well against Celta.”
It was put to Simeone that in Jan Oblak, Diego Godin and Antoine Griezmann he has players on the level of bigger names at Real Madrid and Barcelona, but he chose to emphasise the team ethic.
“I’d speak more about the group. Oblak is enhanced by the team’s work. Godin’s influence is getting greater,” he noted.
“And Griezmann’s game is on behalf of the team. Everyone lives on the efforts of their teammates.
“Jackson Martinez? Strikers live for goals and need to score. What makes me feel good is that he has already been in other teams that didn’t start well and then gradually grew.
“What is beyond the goals is the team. The rest take their power from that. Although we’d be more comfortable with a lot more goals, of course.”
