After going down 0-4 away to Benfica in the Champions League, Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone was candid in his post-match interview, saying that his team's poor performance was a result of poor decision-making by the coaching staff. He gave an in-depth analysis of the problems in the match and promised to learn from the loss and prepare for future matches.
Simeone began by congratulating his opponents, "Benfica played an excellent game, they were very determined to capitalize on all our mistakes and managed to convert them into goals. They deserved to win this game."
Commenting on his team's performance, Simeone said, "We did not play well in this game and did not control the situation. The opponent strongly penalized all our mistakes. Although we have been playing well lately, today's scenes were clearly not what we wanted. From the first half, we had sensed that this was not the game we had envisioned. By the second half, that penalty kick sent us completely out of control, which ultimately led to this disastrous loss."
On the decision to make three substitutions after half-time, Simeone admitted: "The importance of Koke, Griezmann and De Paul was obvious, but we wanted more physicality and the ability to receive headers from crosses. However, this decision didn't have the effect we wanted. Our opponents were better than us all game, both in the first and second half. We didn't play the game we wanted to play and that's on me. The penalty came too early in the second half and we couldn't create chances."
In the interview, Simeone also revealed that he made a gesture to his players during the game that seemed to say they were asleep. He recalled, "There may have been this gesture, but I don't remember it anymore. If you guys saw it, that's probably what it meant. But either way, we need to learn from this loss."
On Atletico's punishment of closing part of the stands, Simeone said, "We accept the decision of the governing body. This is a great opportunity for the club to grow. We need to learn from this experience how to better manage our fans and order in the stadium."
Speaking on how to explain the disastrous loss, Simeone emphasized, "We played poorly and have to accept that. We didn't play well and the substitution decisions didn't bring us the rewards we usually deserve. The opponents played better and we have to accept the reality."
On the impact of the depleted schedule and recent off-field controversies, Simeone said, "We don't make excuses. The person responsible is the coach as he is the one who decides on substitutions. Overall, it was a poor game for everyone and we have to accept the reality. It's part of the game and we need to work on regaining our energy for Sunday's game."
Speaking about which was the bigger problem, tempo or tactics, Simeone said, "We played poorly and that was the main problem. Both tempo and tactics suffered, but the fundamental reason was that we didn't play as well as we should have. We must learn from this defeat and try to improve."
Finally, Simeone mentioned the impact of Lenormand's absence on the team's defense: "Lenormand is a very special player who plays an important role in our back line. All of us need to improve, it's a collective responsibility. But I am convinced that if Robin (Lenormand) is present, he will be able to help our defense in another way."
