Diego Simeone hailed Atletico Madrid’s ‘excellent’ squad depth after Wednesday’s 4-2 win against Real Madrid in the European Super Cup.
“The substitutions were very good, they gave us extra energy and legs, Correa, Thomas and Vitolo. During an extraordinary night for Costa, they gave us extra strength,” said the Coach after Wednesday’s match in Tallinn reports UEFA.com.
“Clearly we have an excellent squad. That’s what we need – to have all the players ready and available to go.
“During recent Finals, a number of things didn’t go our way and prevented us winning.
“We did win the Copa Final and the Supercopa in Spain, and today we’ve won again in Europe. This gives us a lot of strength, confidence.
“We have to celebrate now, but tomorrow we have to look forward and think about the next game against Valencia.
“Match by match we have to improve to start this difficult year ahead of us as well as possible.
“We believe that the best thing that happens to us is to think about the best interests of the club – and as a consequence the best interests of the team.
“As for the emotional aspect, our emotional state was very good – Costa’s first goal lifted us.
“The penalty occurred at a strange moment – when the game was neutral – and we felt very strong after making it 2-2.
“When we made the change with Thomas, plenty probably asked what we were doing, but he can play in that position.
“The substitution gave us more strength and every time we attacked you could smell the goal coming.”
“Let me reiterate what I said before: out of the five Finals against Real Madrid – if I recall correctly – two were domestic, three continental.
“Of those five, we won three – we clearly didn’t beat them in the Champions League Finals.
“We have our own style; that doesn’t change because of a result or the number of goals scored.
“Our style is built on structure, design and strategy. The 4-2 scoreline won’t change our style.”
