Diego Simeone will not be forgiving UEFA any time soon following Atletico Madrid’s Champions League exit earlier this month.
Los Rojiblancos signed off for the international break with two damaging defeats in European and domestic action.
Julian Alvarez’s double-touch penalty continues to be a sore topic for Simeone who remains adamant his fellow Argentinian was unfairly punished in their shootout loss to Los Blancos.
A seething Simeone then saw his team throw away a lead against Barcelona to lose 4-2 and concede valuable ground in the title race.
As Atletico Madrid returned to action this weekend, Simeone’s mood was not improved in the slightest, as his side slipped to a 1-1 draw at relegation battling Espanyol.
Simeone was clear in his post-game assessment that UEFA are heavily responsible for his team bowing out of the Champions League at the last 16 stage as he looks to prepare for the run-in.
“In the Champions League, we won the second match but it ended up being decided by UEFA. We won the game,” as per quotes from Diario AS.
“Those were decisions made by the referee and UEFA, with Julian’s alleged touch on the penalty, and I don’t consider it a blow to our season.”
“Against Barcelona it was a different situation, we were exposed to a very dangerous team, and they scored four goals in 20 minutes.”
Simeone reiterated his previous point of the La Liga title not being decided until the final five games of the season, and he needs slips from both Real Madrid and Barcelona, to haul himself back into the race in the weeks ahead.
Up next for Simeone is a huge Copa del Rey semi final second leg clash with Barcelona on April 2 with the tie delicately balanced after a wild 4-4 draw from the first meeting back in February.
Which game is he talking about – the one in which it was a draw in 90 minutes and went to extra time tied… then to penalties? The one in which his team LOST on penalties – 2 missed penalties including a double touch ?
Simeone lives in negativity – that is why Atletico Madrid loses. Those rare title wins should be in the context of the amount of money AM spends… a lot more than even Real Madrid in recent years.
Maybe in the early Simeone years when there club had no wins and the budget was meagre… not anymore. Judge him the same as any manager with a lot to spend.