A 1-1 draw in Leicester was enough to steer Atletico Madrid into their third Champions League semi-final in four years, although Diego Simeone was more excited about the way his team played than the suggestion that Los Rojiblancos are now one of Europe’s top teams.
Asked if Atleti can now be considered a continental superpower, the Argentine stressed that his team battles like few others, but didn’t fully agree with the assertion.
“We only have one way [of doing things], which is to persist, persist, persist and keep persisting,” he said in his post-match press conference.
“When I arrived at Atletico my only hope was to make the team competitive and to make some noise wherever we played and I believe that we are indeed competing well.
“The big teams are Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid, especially in the economic sense.
“In a sporting sense, we are certainly a competitive team.”
Reflecting on the match itself, he was delighted with the response of his team to Leicester’s goal, while he spoke of his happiness at nursing the lead all the way to the final whistle.
“I feel emotion, pride and excitement after a tough match against a very difficult opponent, one which likes to compete,” the coach said. “They didn’t give up and kept us in suspense.
“It was a complete footballing night, as we’d expected, with an incredible atmosphere and a team which battled right to the end.
“I was especially pleased with how we reinvented ourselves, with how we kept fighting and with how [Jose Maria] Gimenez reacted.
“The team did everything necessary to qualify.”
Finally, the Argentine was asked if he’d consider leaving in the summer if the 2016/17 campaign finishes with a Champions League triumph, to which he insisted that his only focus was Saturday’s LaLiga match against Espanyol.
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