Winning in Manchester is not easy: Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone

Renan Lodi's first-half header helped Atletico Madrid to a 1-0 win over Manchester United in the Champions League last-16 second leg tie at Old Trafford.

Atletico Madrid head coach Diego Simeone; Credit: Twitter/@Atleti
By Sreejith C R | Mar 16, 2022 | 2 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Atletico Madrid head coach Diego Simeone was delighted with his side’s performance in the 1-0 win over Manchester United in the Champions League round of 16 second leg fixture at Old Trafford on Tuesday. Atletico went through to the quarter-finals of the competition with a 2-1 aggregate win as the first leg in Madrid had finished 1-1. Renan Lodi’s 41st minute header separated the two sides in Manchester. 

Also read: Ajax vs Benfica: Benfica win 1-0 in the away leg tie to enter the Champions League quarter-finals

Simeone was speaking to AS after the match and the coach said: “Manchester competes well since their coach arrived and has improved a lot. They found an Atlético very tough, very difficult.”

Simeone’s side came out with a clear game-plan to sit back and defend and hit the opposition on the counter, and they did that effectively. Although it was the Red Devils who started the match brightly as Anthony Elanga got a golden opportunity to take an early lead from Bruno Fernandes’ assist but was denied by Jan Oblak from point-blank range.

As the game progressed, the hosts had the majority of ball possession but Atletico created the better chances on the counter. Rodrigo de Paul forced a full stretch save from David de Gea before Joao Felix put the ball inside the net from Marcus llorente’s assist but was flagged off-side.  

Atleti deservedly took the lead courtesy of a well-worked team move. De Paul played an inch-perfect through ball to find the run of Felix, whose nice little back-heel found Antoine Griezmann and the Frenchman’s cross from the right side of the box  was headed home by Lodi at the far post.

He also said he spotted the chance to counter United early on in the game, commenting: “At the start of the game I saw that in any counterattack we could hurt [them]”, before adding, “Winning in Manchester is not easy.”

Before the match, Simone had said that his team would take advantage of any mistake the opposition makes. The Spanish outfit is known to play counter-attacking game with little emphasis on keeping the ball. They are happy to defend deep and have the likes of De Paul and Koke in midfield who are capable of executing the smooth transition from defence to attack. 

Speaking to AS on Monday night, Simeone said: “We will have the counterattack to take advantage of any mistake they may have.” Simeone knew United would have lots of possession and they would have to take their chances.





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