Atletico Madrid are out of the Champions League at the round of 16 stage after a penalty shoot-out defeat to city rivals Real Madrid. Los Colchoneros won the second leg 1-0 after a Conor Gallagher goal inside 30 seconds, but they could not do enough in the end, losing 4-2 on penalties.
It was a performance to be proud of for Atleti, and head coach Diego Simeone made this clear during his post-match reaction. As per Diario AS, he gave his assessment of the 120 minutes at the Metropolitano, in which he believes that his side would have been fully deserving winners of the round of 16 tie.
“I wouldn’t talk about luck. I would talk about feeling proud of the team we have, the way we always compete and it will remain in the history of this process that we have in the club. It was a very well controlled match at all times. We had chances to extend the score, we didn’t have the precision at the end of the season, they controlled possession without chances. The penalty came, they missed and I think we played an incredible game.
“I am proud of our players. Surely they always beat us in the Champions League, but they have a hard time, they really have a bad time.”
Simeone also reacted to the controversy during the penalty shoot-out. Julian Alvarez’s penalty was adjudged to have been an illegal strike by the VAR team, who stated that the Argentine striker had touched the ball with his left foot as well as his right.
“Penalties are not worked, they are different in matches. They tell me that Julian seems to touch or does not touch the ball when he shoots – if the referee considers it it will have been like that.”
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