Speaking after a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain to start Atlético Madrid’s Club World Cup campaign, head coach Diego Simeone seemed to point to resources as the cause for the heavy loss in the Colchoneros’ opening fixture.
When asked about his preference for the struggling Antoine Griezmann over Alexander Sørloth to start, Simeone responded “we played Julián (Alvarez) as a number nine, look for a conflicting opinion, I don’t care,” before insisting that “Sørloth had the chance to make it 2-1, and it wasn’t a goal.”
However, the most intriguing part of his post-match availability was his comment about PSG’s commitment to building a Champions League winner — not coincidentally, this is the one trophy El Cholo has not won as Atlético coach.
“PSG are a great team. Luis (Enrique) came up with the idea that he needed help on the left wing, and in January, they gave him 70 million euros for (Khvicha) Kvaratskhelia. Then you have to make them play together, and they are a team that has always done that.”
Simeone on what went wrong
“In the first half, we didn’t play the way we should have played. They played a great game, they played the game that makes them feel confident. We couldn’t link up and attack in the way we imagined. The time we were able to do so, Griezmann didn’t score and they made it 2-0.
“In the second half, Koke gave us a way to get out of the press, and the intensity of our opponents, which is very good. We cut it back to 2-1 and the referee decided to disallow that goal, and it became more complicated. Lenglet’s sending off made it more complicated. They have a very young team and they rounded off the result in a great way.”
