Diego Simeone believes his Atletico Madrid side played very well against Barcelona and were unfortunate to lose the encounter.
Lionel Messi’s goal four minutes from time condemned Los Rojiblancos to defeat in the Vicente Calderon after Diego Godin’s header had cancelled out Rafinha’s opener for the visitors.
"We couldn't clear a piece of play with lots of ricochets and they capitalised," the Argentine explained in his post-match press conference.
"They demonstrated their quality in the most important part of the pitch, the penalty area, and they won a match which they possibly didn't deserve to.
"The first half was very good and we could have scored and made the game more comfortable, but it didn't turn out that way even though we spent a lot of that period in their half of the pitch.
"It was more even in the second half and it was the kind of match where the team which makes a mistake loses.
"Unfortunately, we often end up with this 2-1 reverse [against Barca], especially in LaLiga.
“It hurts us as usual, but we did compete very well and we showed in all the matches that we could win."
