Diego Simeone admitted he ‘does not understand friendlies’ and defended Diego Godin after his red card in Tuesday’s win over Napoli.
Atletico Madrid defeated the Serie A side in the Audi Cup thanks to goals from Fernando Torres and Luciano Vietto but Uruguayan Godin was dismissed for two yellow cards following challenges Dries Mertens and Adam Ounas.
“The important thing is that Ounas is ok, the rest of it is just for you to write something on (Pepe) Reina or Godin,” Simeone told a post-match press conference.
“We are not in our best shape and the players are late into challenges. The referee quite rightly sent off the player.
“These things can happen and the red card was right, even if he certainly didn’t go in with the intention of hurting anyone.
“We are a tough side who always go into the tackle and work very hard defensively. I don’t understand friendlies, because we want to win every game, even in training.
“Napoli are a wonderful team, but we still managed to turn it around and that’s impressive at this moment of the season.
“I am satisfied that the team understands what it means to always give their all.
“We played well, were lacking something in attack, but the goals were good. In the second half we played with more harmony and attacked better.
“I think Reina is one of the best goalkeepers in the world and we saw that, as he was always ready and good with his feet too. Jan Oblak was also decisive by saving a penalty.”
