After the controversy ignited the derby between Atlético and Real Madrid, which ended with the red and white victory (2-1), and the forceful criticism of the white coach José Mourinho to the refereeing of the match, it was the turn of Diego Pablo Simeone, red and white coach, to appear at a press conference, where he responded to the Portuguese.
"We are always respectful of everything that others think. I understand that we are in a privileged place, with a very great exposure as coaches, and Mourinho, Flick, Pellegrini, I or any other name need to be careful with what we say," said Cholo from the Metropolitano press room. "We have to know how to respect each other, the referees, our co-workers. And we all lose. And when one goes beyond that line of respect, no matter how much your name is Mourinho, no matter how much your name is Pellegrini or how much your name is Flick, it doesn't work; you don't have to cross the line."
In this way, the Argentine coach avoided the controversy created minutes earlier by the Madrid coach in the same press room, where the Portuguese defended that the tackles by Cuti Romero on Jude Bellingham and by Kang-in Lee on Fede Valverde during the first half of the match were "two clear red cards" that the referee did not show.
"The game I saw was an intense game, which we controlled at all times. We faced an opponent who has incredible transitions, who has extraordinary footballers who obviously play for their team and do it very well. We controlled almost all the transitions they could have had. In the second half, only in the mistake between Cuti and Marc [Pubill], who collide for Diomande, who had that situation and Oblak takes it out very well. It was the only dangerous situation that the team went through, plus the goal," Simeone analyzed.
In this sense, the Colchonero coach insisted on the dominance of his team and downplayed the importance of the criticized refereeing: "I think we controlled the game at all times from the collective work, from the defensive, from the collective work, from the group, from the game, looking for where we could hurt them, which we knew was on the right. And the penalty came and the goal came. We are not going to stop raising the team's performance in all these situations that you want to tell me about."
"I'm not going to give an opinion. I didn't give an opinion the other time when the penalties were against. I usually don't give an opinion because the play has already happened. I think the director of the referees spoke, if I'm not mistaken, in the post-match and said that Cuti's play was not an expulsion. Now, if we want to stop at that and not stop at what happened in the match, okay, it's a game and let's play. But we are all clear, the match was the match. 11 against 11, the team controlled the game; 11 against 10, we won the game and there is not much more," summarized the rojiblanco coach.
Despite Cholo's position of not commenting on the referee's performance, the questions continued to focus on the referee: "You are looking for a title and I honestly don't need the title. Today we had an exciting, very good match. The team did an incredible collective job, they defended very well. I repeat, they defended very well against a team that has very good players. Vinícius, Mbappé, Diomande, Güler, Bernardo, Valverde, etc. all play very well. well and the team managed to contain it. That was seen, right? Because, if not, we will stay with the other thing and play the game that they invite us to play.
"I am clear about what the team did, I am clear about the game we played, I am clear about the joy of our people once again, after 15 years where it was difficult to beat Real Madrid, again we were able to win a game at home, with our people, the derby. That positions us in a very nice place to enjoy, to continue growing as a team. This is simply nothing more than a minimum step to continue growing as a team and we are doing it," added the Argentine coach.
Furthermore, he avoided evaluating the fans' reception of Julián Álvarez, who came onto the field in the 61st minute to replace Jonathan David between whistles. "Let's see, we have people who are incredible. The people of Atlético de Madrid are incredible, they are incredible. There are no words of gratitude for everything I have been able to go through in my time as a footballer and in my time now as a coach. They are incredible," he said.
"When you give what you have, people love you. And today Julián tried. It cost him, it cost him. We are going to get him back because he is a decisive footballer for what the club needs and what the club wants. And we are going to work accordingly with him," he added about La Araña.
Furthermore, Simeone admitted to being "very happy for Jonathan [David], who scored again today; in three games, three goals." "The truth is that this puts internal competition in an important place. And we need everything to compete to the best of our ability," praised the Canadian striker.
"Honestly, nothing important, nothing decisive because the League is very long," he estimated what this victory means. "As I said, it is a positive point for the team because it is growing, because it comes from the match with Real Sociedad to this match growing. We need to continue working, we need to be involved as everyone is involved," he stressed before praising the team captain.
"Did you see Koke? Thirty-odd years old, he doesn't start the game of his life as a kid, the coach doesn't put you in and you come in like that. We need those players and I hope that our teammates continue to see those examples that we have here every day because that's what Atlético de Madrid is. That's what we are and we're obviously competing looking to improve," said the 'Cholo'.
