In the 1-3 home defeat against Lille in the Champions League, Atlético de Madrid goalkeeper Oblak was deeply self-critical in his post-match interview and gave his thoughts on the controversial penalties in the match and the team's efficiency in front of goal.
On the penalty call, Oblak said, "I don't know what happened, the referee said it was a handball, but I don't know the specifics and no one can read it. I hope the referee understands the call himself. We can't complain about the referee because we had our chances to kill the game during the match, but unfortunately we didn't take them. They scored the penalty and the refereed goal and everything looked bad because we lost 1-3 at home. But we didn't take our chances and our opponents punished us."
On the team's efficiency in front of goal, Oblak confessed, "If we had scored one more goal, the game would have been easier to play. Because anything can happen in a game, like today, they had three shots on goal and scored three goals, while we had more shots on goal and only scored one. Everything looks bad now, but if we had scored with those shots, it would have been completely different."
When asked about Cork's opinion on the penalty call, Oblak said, "We discussed handball and the referee called it a handball, but I don't know exactly what happened. Cork said the referee was checking to see if it was a handball, and if it wasn't a handball I don't know what it was anymore, it's really unbelievable. But, like I said before, the penalty went against us, but if we do well enough, the mistake won't affect the outcome of our game."
On the question of whether the penalty was handballed by a Lille player, Oblak said, "All I know is what the referee told us, when they were checking if it was handball. I don't know exactly what happened, the referee will give an explanation."
Finally, Oblak emphasized that Atletico have no room for mistakes in the Champions League: "After losing the last round, we should have won today, but we didn't do it. Of course there are still games to play and we have to win, but we said that after that game in Lisbon and today we lost at home. We have to keep our heads up and win the games behind us."
Oblak's speech showed his deep reflection on the game and his firm belief in the team's future. I believe that in the coming matches, Atletico will learn the lessons, improve the efficiency in front of the goal, reduce the mistakes, and bring more exciting matches to the fans.
