In a typically honest fashion, Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone has given a verdict on last night’s encounter where Los Rojiblancos were knocked out by German side RB Leipzig.
He had no complaints about the manner of Atletico Madrid’s Champions League exit, insisting his team gave their all but RB Leipzig deserved victory. Leipzig stunned Atletico with a 2-1 triumph in Lisbon on Thursday as Tyler Adams hit a late, deflected winner to push the German side into the next round.
Joao Felix had earlier cancelled out Dani Olmo’s opener from the penalty spot, but Atletico struggled to break down the Bundesliga side and were carved open too often going the other way. Eventually, the pressure paid off few minutes from time as Adams fired home a deflected 88th-minute winner to seal the victory for RB Leipzig.
For the first time in his managerial career, the Argentine was knocked out from the Champions League by a team without Cristiano Ronaldo and he had no complaints at full time. Speaking after the game, he said:
“We gave it everything we had, It was difficult for us to win the duels and they were faster. It has been a long year, with those 60 days off. Then there was pressure coming back to the Champions League. We had one week off then back to training.
“We haven’t been able to play the way we wanted. I liked Leipzig. They had great determination, enthusiasm and freshness. That cost us. There are no excuses. We gave our best and made it to the quarter-finals. We are going out fairly and we have to congratulate our opponents.”
Now that the season is officially over for the Spanish outfit, attention now turns towards the start of the 2020/21 season where they will be looking to challenge Real Madrid and Barcelona for the La Liga title.
On the other hand, Leipzig continue their Champions League fairytale as they have now become the first German team other than Bayern Munich or Dortmund to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League in a decade.
