Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has told the media that he is excited by the gauntlet of fixtures coming up in the next two months, and they begin with a trip to Montjuic in the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg. He also confirmed at least two changes for the Barcelona clash.
One of those will be the return of summer signing Juan Musso in goal in place of Jan Oblak.
“Juan will play for sure,” Simeone confirmed to the press, while also explaining that Cesar Azpilicueta would be missing, and Clement Lenglet was a doubt. On the opposite side, Lamine Yamal is a late doubt for Barcelona.
“Cesar is not going to accompany us against Barcelona, I hope he’s back on Saturday. And Lenglet we are evaluating whether he starts from the beginning or not.”
Simeone had high words of praise for his opposite number Hansi Flick too, explaining that the German coach is the best thing about them.
“Their greatest strength is the coach, he has a strength to transmit the style of play and the arrival of Flick has been very good for Barcelona.”
Everything indicates that Ferran Torres will start either tomorrow or in the weekend against Real Sociedad. @tjuanmarti
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) February 24, 2025
As he often does, Simeone emphasized ‘taking the game to areas’ in which Atletico can do damage.
“We have a concrete idea and we will manage it with the boys in advance. We face an opponent whose game I really like. They have great offensive strength and we will look to hurt them where we believe we can.”
Equally he was aware they would be defending often during the game, and Simeone was asked if it was in his plan to do ‘less suffering’ than they did in the Liga encounter between the two in December, which Los Colchoneros won 2-1.
“When you face great teams you know you have to be prepared to resist. There will be good moments, we know as it already happened against Real Madrid, where there were moments in which they were better than us… We know that there will be different moments of matches and hopefully there will be more good ones for us.”
🇦🇷🗣️ Diego Simeone: “Bus to Barcelona? We’ll be going by plane.” pic.twitter.com/C87pHOUEuU
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) February 24, 2025
Meanwhile Pablo Barrios has received plenty of criticism in recent days after two sending offs in the space of a month.
“He is 21 years old, he is a boy who is growing, he is being very important for us and he improves day after day. In my eyes, he takes on a lot of responsibility in the game. He had these red cards that will serve as experience for later games. [I have] Faith in the boy for the games that are coming.”
Barrios is reportedly set to start the game, which is little surprise after Koke Resurreccion was injured last week. Marcos Llorente did a fine job in the middle of the pitch against Valencia, but has been employed most often at right-back.
