‘Cholo exit only rumours’

Atletico Madrid President Enrique Cerezo dismissed speculation Diego Simeone could leave the club for Chelsea. “They’re rumours and only rumours.”

Simeone has been said to be close to Stamford Bridge with the Premier League wanting either Cholo or Italy Coach Antonio Conte as Jose Mourinho’s long-term successor.

“They’re rumours and only rumours. If there was something for the short, medium or long-term, we’d have talked already,” Cerezo insisted, AS reports.

“There’s a lot of balls being thrown to see if anything falls down.”

The Madrid derby at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu – a game for which Cerezo says Atleti have no fear – comes only days after the Champions League first leg at PSV Eindhoven.

“When you play you forget everything, although it’s possible that in the 90 minutes [fatigue] could flourish,” Cerezo noted.

“But the Atletico players excel themselves in games such as this. Who would I rather beat, Madrid or PSV? Let’s play this game first, then we’ll think about PSV.

“It’s normal our supporters are optimistic. We played well against PSV, although we didn’t have any luck in front of goal.”

Cerezo expanded on Atletico’s lack of goals but denied it was anything more than the kind of poor run any team can face.

“All teams have good and bad moments. Now we’re going through a stage where we need goals, but we can score at any time,” he added.

Comments from former Madrid midfielder Guti that no Atleti player would get into Madrid’s XI were also given short shrift.

“All Atleti players would have a place in Madrid, and all Madrid players would have a place in Atleti,” Cerezo said.

Tags Chelsea Diego Simeone Enrique Cerezo PSV Eindhoven
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